Lawyer to ask judge to order Legal Aid to pay for expert

A Lethbridge lawyer is going over Alberta Legal Aid’s head to get the government agency to pay for the testimony of an expert in an attempted murder trial.

Scott Hadford will request the judge hearing the case step in and order Legal Aid to cover the costs of paying for a DNA expert when the trial eventually resumes. Although Legal Aid is already paying for the accused’s lawyer, it has twice refused to cover the costs of the expert, and the trial has been adjourned several times since December when the Crown concluded its case.

Hadford said Friday during a brief hearing in Lethbridge provincial court he will officially make the application in front of the judge May 1.

Evidence and testimony heard so far during the attempted murder trial are part of a voir dire — a mini trial within a trial to determine the admissability of evidence — and can't be published unless the judge allows the evidence into the trial proper.

However, police reported in a news release shortly after the incident May 3, 2015, that a woman was asleep at a family member’s home when a man broke into the residence through a patio door and sexually assaulted her. A family member called 911, but the assailant dragged his victim outside and continued the assault, then slashed her throat with a knife before running away.

The woman was rushed to the hospital where she required surgery.

The suspect was charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, unlawful confinement, break and enter and commit sexual assault, uttering threats and robbery.

The Crown intends to seek an adult sentence even though the accused, who can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was only 17 at the time of the offences.

In a preliminary hearing last year, a judge granted a request by the Crown to allow hearsay evidence. The ruling was necessary since the woman who had her throat slit died of unrelated causes several months after the incident and can't testify or be crossexamined.

A second witness for the Crown also died, forcing the Crown to rely on the evidence of police officers who spoke to the witnesses and recorded their statements.

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