Ryan Wedding murder trial delayed to 2027 due to 'unusual and complex' case

Thomas Daigle · CBC News

· Posted: Sep 04, 2026 12:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

The high-profile criminal trial of accused drug lord Ryan Wedding, previously scheduled to begin next month, has been delayed until October 2027 due to the case being “so unusual and so complex,” public records show.

U.S. District Court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett on Thursday granted a joint request from the prosecution and defence to postpone the trial of the former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder, set to be held in Los Angeles.

Wedding, who spent 10 years evading authorities until his capture in Mexico in January, faces charges including conspiracy to export cocaine and murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise. He has pleaded not guilty.

A court sketch shows Ryan Wedding wearing a tan jumpsuit next to his lawyer Anthony Colombo. U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Early presides over the hearing in January 2026. (Bill Robles/CBC)

The murder charges stem from the November 2023 mistaken-identity shooting of Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu in Caledon, Ont., and the May 2024 killing of 39-year-old Mohammed Zafar of nearby Brampton.

Authorities have alleged Wedding led a ruthless, $1-billion US drug-smuggling empire that moved truckloads of Colombian cocaine from Mexico onto stash houses in California and to Canadian destinations, including the Greater Toronto Area.

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According to a court filing this week, prosecutors have so far provided Wedding and his legal team with “terabytes of data discovery” including video and audio recordings, witness interviews, encrypted messages and financial summaries.

The filing also points out one of Wedding’s co-defendants, Gennadii Bilonog, “remains a fugitive,” while three others haven’t yet been extradited from Canada.

The FBI says Gennadii Bilonog — an alleged associate of accused Canadian drug trafficker Ryan Wedding — remains a fugitive. (FBI)

They include alleged drug-trafficking accomplices Gurpreet Singh and Hardeep Ratte, as well as accused hitman Malik Damion Cunningham. All three are fighting extradition while in custody in Ontario.

CBC News previously reported another Canadian co-defendant, Andrew Clark, turned FBI informant after he was captured in Mexico and flown to the U.S. Wedding and his former right-hand man Clark both remain in U.S. custody in undisclosed locations.

The trial now scheduled for next year stems from a 2024 federal grand jury indictment, unsealed months before Wedding was added to the FBI’s list of most-wanted fugitives. The U.S. State Department later offered a $15-million US reward for his information leading to his arrest.

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The trial could shed more light on murky circumstances surrounding Wedding’s capture. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ron Johnson, said at the time the Canadian surrendered as “a direct result of pressure applied by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement.”

Wedding’s attorney Anthony Colombo has insisted “he didn't surrender. He was apprehended. He was arrested.”

WATCH | Ryan Wedding's lawyer says his client did not surrender:

Wedding, who went by multiple aliases including James Conrad King and Public Enemy, is also charged in another indictment filed in 2025 and centred on the killing of Montreal-born FBI witness Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia. 

That case is also expected to go to trial next year, soon after the initial trial wraps up, Colombo said this week.

“The discovery is voluminous and spans two continents and four countries, and consistent with the right to a fair trial and due process, the defence requires this time to adequately prepare,” Colombo told CBC News in an email.

He said he does not expect his client to sign a plea agreement.

Then-fugitive Ryan Wedding is seen in a picture thought to have been taken in Mexico, sometime in the summer of 2025, according to U.S. investigators. (FBI)

Wedding, now 44, previously stood trial in 2009 after flying to California to buy cocaine on behalf of a Vancouver-based organized crime group.

Wedding, born in Thunder Bay, Ont., was found guilty and sentenced to 48 months in a U.S. prison. He was released in 2011.

"Your Honour," Wedding told the judge at the time, "What I did was completely out of character for me, and it is a personal mission of mine to rebuild my reputation.”