Suspect to be tried for first-degree murder of mother and daughter, 5

CALGARY Edward Downey will face a Calgary jury in the fall of 2018, for allegedly murdering a Calgary woman and her young daughter.

Lawyer Meryl Friedland appeared in Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday on behalf of defence counsel Gavin Wolch to set a threeweek trial for Downey beginning Nov. 26, 2018.

Friedland said that was the earliest period made available by the court, but noted Wolch would be able to conduct a trial as early as July of next year.

The comment led Justice David Gates to inquire whether Wolch was contemplating a so-called Jordan application, named after the Supreme Court case in which hard deadlines have been set for getting cases completed.

Friedland said she couldn’t commit to Wolch not seeking a stay of proceedings based on an unreasonable delay application.

In the Jordan case the nation’s top court said trials completed after 30 months from the day a person is charged will be presump- tively considered unreasonably delayed and the onus will be on the Crown to establish a justification for it.

If the Downey trial finishes as scheduled on Dec. 14, 2018, it will be within the 30-month time frame. Prosecutor Carla MacPhail said the Crown would be ready to proceed as early as next January.

Downey 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2016 deaths of Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman.

Baillie was found dead in her Panamount Boulevard N.W. home on July 11 and an Amber Alert was issued when her daughter could not be located. The girl’s body was found on a rural property east of Chestermere three days later.

Downey was arrested the same day, exactly 29 months before the scheduled final day of his trial. He remains in custody pending the hearing.

If convicted of first-degree murder, he could face a possible parole ineligibility of 50 years.