Man found guilty of murdering Jesse Kennedy in Mission in 2023 seeks mistrial seven months after conviction
John Ross Powers found guilty of second-degree murder in March after lengthy trial, his lawyer now argues jury tampering amounts to miscarriage of justice
October 15, 2026
Seven months after John Ross Powers was convicted of the murder of Jesse Kennedy in Mission on July 13, 2023, his lawyer is applying for a mistrial claiming the judge dismissed the jury improperly.
There were a number of issues with members of the jury in Powers’ second-degree murder trial, which started in November 2025. On Dec. 18, Justice Ian Caldwell dismissed the jury with the consent of both Crown and defence. Powers was scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9, but the case was in B.C. Supreme Court in Abbotsford instead for his mistrial application. While his lawyer acceded to the jury being dismissed in December 2025, now the argument is that the judge did not have the jurisdiction to discharge the jury.
There was also discussion of possible jury tampering with an incident where a sheriff referred to “Powers’ knife” to one of the jurors, implying that the murder weapon belonged to the accused before that was established in court.
Want to support independent journalism?
Consider a one-time donation so I can continue this work.
At the hearing on Oct. 9, lawyers referenced section 644(3) of the criminal code, which states that if the number of jurors is reduced below 10, the judge may, with the consent of the parties, discharge the jurors and continue judge alone.
Powers’ lawyer argued that the judge can’t just accede to Crown and defence wanting the jury to be dismissed, the judge has to come to the same conclusion that the remedy is appropriate, much the same way a judge doesn’t accede to a joint submission by lawyers if it is contrary to the public interest.
“The judge should make sure there was enough there to accede to the joint proposal.”
Crown pointed out that there was no point between Dec. 18 when the jury was dismissed and March 20 when he was convicted that an application was brought before the court regarding the jurisdictional issue.
“It was only after Mr. Powers was convicted that this issue of the parties proceeding the way they want to proceed [came] into question.”
The case was put over to Oct. 28 when Justice Caldwell will likely make a decision on the mistrial application.
The murder
It was July 13, 2023, before 6 p.m., when police were called to a location near the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Highway 11 in Mission. Officers found Kennedy suffering from stab wounds to his neck and chest. He was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.
Powers was arrested at the scene.
Circumstantial evidence was enough to convict 39-year-old Powers of killing Kennedy. A combination of CCTV footage and data from Powers’ own court-ordered electronic monitoring device, along with other physical evidence, proved his actions correlated with the time and location that Kennedy was stabbed in neck and chest severing an artery and puncturing his lung.
“I find that the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence taken as a whole is that Powers attacked Kennedy on the lower trail and inflicted the stab wounds to Kennedy's neck and chest,” Justice Caldwell said on March 20.
“I find that Powers' description of his movement on July 13 is objectively proven to be untrue. It was self-serving, it was intended to deceive.”
Powers has a lengthy and serious criminal history. A year before he was arrested and charged with killing Kennedy, he was charged with stabbing a homeless man in Mission, Arthur Lonsdale on Sept. 12, 2022.
Fourteen years ago he and five other men kidnapped a wealthy Metro Vancouver man in an attempt to get a million-dollar ransom. Powers was actually under police surveillance when he and five other men participated in the kidnapping attempt. Officers witnessed the attack by two of the men and performed an emergency takedown. The four others were later arrested and charged. Five of the men pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, but one was deemed unfit to stand trial after suffering a serious beating in prison.
Powers was sentenced to six years in prison. He was later given a further four years to be served consecutively after a covert search warrant of an apartment he rented to store weapons for one of the co-conspirators turned up five semi-automatic rifles, two other rifles, a submachine gun, a pistol, a revolver, a silencer, along with 797 rounds of ammunition.
-30-
Want to support independent journalism?
Consider becoming a paid subscriber or make a one-time donation so I can continue this work.
Paul J. Henderson
pauljhenderson@gmail.com
facebook.com/PaulJHendersonJournalist
instagram.com/wordsarehard_pjh
x.com/PeeJayAitch
wordsarehard-pjh.bsky.social