Adjournments dominate in court

SEVERAL HIGH-PROFILE CASES ALL ADJOURNED

An unusually heavy docket in Lethbridge provincial court Tuesday, including several cases of more than passing interest, seemed to indicate that something significant was bound to happen. Only it didn’t. Not so unusual is the amount of adjournments that occur virtually every day in court, and Tuesday was no exception, despite the number of relatively high-profile cases.

Two men accused of assaulting a police officer during a standoff outside a westside residence in February of last year were set to stand trial, but after court was told Brian Fulljames and Forrest Jensen were stuck in Ontario and couldn’t attend, they were given until April 6 to return to Alberta or a warrant for their arrest would be released.

Rodney Kelsey Bottle and Jesse Dean Davidson, charged in connection to a stabbing in Lethbridge last week, made their first appearance in court Tuesday, but their matters were adjourned to Friday and Feb. 15 respectively. And the case against Rodney Yellow Old Woman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of a 48year-old woman last September, was adjourned to March 8.

Also on Tuesday’s docket were Tyler Marshall, Simon Danny Scout, Clement Black Rabbit, Chantelle Pantherbone, Kody Martens and others, all of whom were adjourned for various reasons.

Marshall was charged last year with causing animals to be in distress and failing to provide them with proper care after more than 200 animals were seized from his property in Milo. He’s back in court Feb. 28.

Scout, charged with another man in the seconddegree murder of 45-year-old Kenrick Leonard First Rider, was also in court Tuesday, but only for a moment before it was adjourned as well.

Pantherbone and Black Rabbit, who face numerous charges following a police raid on a home in January and a drug bust last November, are back in court Friday, and Martens, who faces numerous property crime-related charges, returns to court March 8.