Returning to court in May
Barrett defence lawyer to present delay argument
Crown and defence lawyers in the case of a Glace Bay man charged with second-degree murder are to return to court in May for a defence application claiming underdue delay in getting the case to trial.
Supreme Court Justice Frank Edwards has set May 24 as the hearing date after a discussion Friday with Crown prosecutor Diane McGrath and defence lawyer Zeb Brown.
Thomas Ted Barrett, 41, is charged in connection with the May 2012 death of 21-year-old Laura Catherine Jessome whose remains were found inside a hockey bag along the shores of the Mira River in Marion Bridge.
Jessome died after being strangled.
The charge was first filed in February 2013 and since then, there have been over 30 recorded adjournments of which many came at the request of the defence.
Barrett has been afforded multiple defence lawyers but none have yet to get the case to trial because of a breakdown in solicitor/client relations.
Barrett was scheduled to stand trial in May on the charge but the trial was adjourned because he had only recently retained Brown who requested more time to prepare.
The trial is now set for October.
McGrath told the court Friday that while the Crown is consenting to the latest request for an adjournment, it is anxious to have the trial proceed in October.
Under the Charter of Rights of Freedoms, an accused has the right to be tried within a reasonable time. If the time frame is found to be excessive and without sufficient reason, the remedy is a stay of proceedings.
The burden of proof in such an argument rests with the accused.
In determining whether there has been an undue delay, a court is to examine such factors as the delays attributed to the Crown (which weigh in favour of an accused), the reasons for such delays and the length of the delay. Delays attributed to the accused are subtracted from the total.
Yet another argument in such cases is whether the delay resulted in prejudice to the accused because of the passage of time.
In July 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada set new benchmarks for Canadian courts to ensure an accused is tried within a reasonable time.
Supreme Court cases are to be tried within 30 months of the charge being filed while those in provincial court are to be completed within 18 months. Provincial court cases that include a preliminary hearing can be extended to 30 months.
The time frames cited do not apply when it is determined the delays are the result of actions by the defence.
Meanwhile, Brown informed the court Friday that his client, who appeared by video from the Atlantic Institution prison in Renous, N.B., was now abandoning an application requesting that Edwards recuse himself from hearing the case. A hearing on that application was set for March 22.
Barrett is serving a life sentence after being convicted last year of second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Brett Elizabeth McKinnon, of Glace Bay. McKinnon was also strangled.