Murder suspect who fired lawyer will stand trial in 2019
He fired his high-profile criminal lawyer just before his trial was about to begin two weeks ago.
Now, murder suspect Fuad Yasir Ali must wait until 2019 to have his day in court.
And that could mean Ali will spend an extra 15 months behind bars before his guilt or innocence is decided.
New defence counsel Adriano Iovinelli appeared in Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday to set a two-week trial for Ali beginning Jan. 7, 2019.
Iovinelli told Justice Earl Wilson his client is waiving any claim the 15-month delay can be used in a charter application to have the charge tossed because he wasn’t tried within a reasonable amount of time.
Iovinelli said he had instructions from Ali to set the new trial in January 2019.
“I’ll also put on the record ... the delay, of course, is by Mr. Ali, for dismissing counsel the first day of trial,” he said.
The lawyer’s comments came on the day Ali’s original trial was scheduled to end, nearly 15 months to the day his new hearing is set to conclude.
Outside court, Iovinelli said he will have to review disclosure before he determines whether he has an argument to seek bail for his client pending the new date.
“I just received disclosure, I need to review it,” he said.
“That’s a big period of pretrial custody and I’ll need to assess the bail position,” he said.
He said his client’s defence will come down to whether it’s a murder or manslaughter.
Ali, 30, is charged with seconddegree murder in the Aug. 17, 2015, death of Mustafe Mohamud Hussein.
Hussein died weeks after being hospitalized in a coma following a July 3, 2015, altercation in the 100 block of 10th Avenue S.E.
Hussein, 44, was removed from life-support Aug. 5, 2015, after remaining comatose from the time of his arrival at hospital. The cause of death has not been revealed.
On Sept. 11, the day his trial was to begin, Ali said he no longer wanted defence counsel Alain Hepner to represent him.
“I’ve been trying to get a new lawyer for a long time,” Ali told Justice Suzanne Bensler.
“It’s not only hard to get ahold of Alain Hepner, but it’s hard to get rid of Alain Hepner.”
The comments led two senior defence counsel to jump to Hep- ner’s defence.
Both Jim Lutz and Don MacLeod said Ali was firing one of the best criminal lawyers around.
“I think he’s regarded ... as one of the best, if not the best,” Lutz said.