The Crown will seek to continue a trial against three of four murder suspects after the fourth’s lawyer withdrew, in order to fend off a potential unreasonable delay application.
Prosecutor Katherine Love told Justice Colin Feasby on Wednesday there were several options on how to proceed with the case after defence counsel Shaun Leochko withdrew on Tuesday because of a conflict with certain Crown witnesses.
One of those options, Love said, was for lawyers for the other three accused waiving delay if their trial was to be adjourned.
But defence counsel Andrea Urquhart, Robin McIntyre and Jeanine Zahara said they wouldn’t do that for their respective clients, Shyana Popplestone, Jared Burke and Gurpreet Gill.
As a result, Love and co-prosecutor Britta Kristensen will have to make an application to sever those three from the indictment charging Leochko’s former client, Greg Schuster.
All four are charged with first-degree murder in the March 29, 2023, death of Calgarian Tara Miller, whose body was found dumped by a rural highway south of the city the following day.
In her opening address Monday, Kristensen said an autopsy determined the deceased suffered blunt force head wounds, was strangled, and had signs of forced ingestion of a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Love told Feasby that the accused were arrested in January 2024, making the deadline for a Jordan application to have the charges stayed because of a breach of their right to a timely trial this July.
The lawyers for Popplestone, Burke and Gill said they weren’t willing to effectively waive their clients’ Charter right because Schuster required an adjournment to get new counsel.
“This is not a case, on behalf of Mr. Gill, where we are using Jordan as a sword and not a shield,” Zahara said, of the Supreme Court case that set guidelines on how quickly trials must proceed.
“It is a protected (Charter) right.”
Despite that, Feasby said he was mindful of the advantage the defence would get if the case were delayed.
“I am not naive. I understand the game,” the Calgary Court of King’s Bench judge said.
“I am not going to stick my head in the sand and pretend there is not a delay issue that would result in a windfall for the accused.”
With the possibility of the murder charges being tossed, Love said an application to seek separate trials for the three accused and Schuster was necessary.
Feasby will hear arguments on the issue next Wednesday.