Trial dates for local pharmacists moved from January to late April

A new trial date has been struck for two Medicine Hat pharmacists charged with fraud and theft over $5,000.

Originally set for Jan. 22-30, lawyers representing the Crown and defence on Tuesday set down a new trial date of April 23-27.

The delay comes after the specialized Crown prosecutor for economic crime out of Calgary made a request on Nov. 29 that some witnesses be allowed to testify by videoconference. But both defence and the judge balked at this due to the extensive documents and complexity of evidence associated with the case.

If delayed past April, defence counsel could apply to have the charges thrown out for unconstitutional unreasonable delay — in line with the Supreme Court of Canada’s Jordan decision.

Because of this, the judge offered to rearrange his schedule to hold the trial in April, giving the Crown a week to canvas witnesses to make sure they would be available for the April date instead, with no videoconferencing required.

Kathryn Keiser and Evan King were arrested alongside a third pharmacist, Robert Stadnyck, over allegations they received rebates and incentive payments to the sum of $1.6 million directly through negotiating drug purchases.

All three worked at pharmacies owned by the Medicine Hat Co-op (now known as South Country Co-op), and have since had their employment terminated. Stadnyk’s trial is set for Mar. 26-29, and April 5 and 6.