Murder suspect dismisses lawyer weeks before his scheduled retrial
Dismissing his lawyer 2 1/2 months before his scheduled retrial will mean murder suspect Sheldon Worme will have spent more than a decade behind bars before learning his fate.
Defence lawyer Michael Bates was allowed to withdraw from the case Friday, after Worme said he no longer wanted him as his counsel.
Justice Willie de Wit urged Worme to reconsider, but after a last ditch meeting with Bates, Worme maintained he wanted to change lawyers.
“Mr. Bates is a very good counsel,” de Wit said, in asking the accused if he could attempt to reconcile with the lawyer. “He has a very good reputation with the court.”
After a brief adjournment, Bates returned to tell de Wit he and his client could not come to an agreement and he agreed to withdraw.
The decision means a voir dire on the admissibility of a Mr. Big statement Worme gave to undercover police officers, set for next month, was postponed. The Mr. Big tactic involves police posing as a criminal figure to gain evidence they might otherwise not get.
Crown lawyer Jonathan Hak noted if the statement is ruled out, the prosecution will not have a case against Worme, but the accused said he wished to seek a new lawyer anyway.
Hak said the earliest date now available for Worme’s retrial on a charge of first-degree murder will be the spring of 2019.
Worme was arrested Jan. 29, 2009, in connection with the beating death of Calgarian Daniel Levesque.
He was convicted by a jury in 2012, after the prosecution led evidence he confessed to a police officer posing as Mr. Big, despite his claim his words were exaggerated in order to impress his new friends and gain entry to their gang.
Last year, the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned that decision, ruling the trial judge erred by limiting Worme’s lawyer’s ability to challenge the reliability of the Mr. Big confession.
The trial judge’s ruling was incorrect by “improperly limiting cross-examination about prior Mr. Big operations conducted by the undercover officers testifying for the Crown.”
At his first trial, court heard Worme and his girlfriend were invited to Levesque’s home the evening of June 28, 2008, to socialize and drink. Worme later invited over two other men, Derek Joseph Campeau and Aaron Stevens, to join them and they arrived while Levesque was asleep.
He awoke to find the men stealing from him and tried to stop them, but ended up being tortured to give up his PIN number for his bank card.
He was beaten to death in the basement of his home.
During a subsequent undercover operation, Worme initially said he was a bystander to the killing, but later admitted being involved.
Both Stevens and Campeau were convicted of manslaughter.
Worme’s retrial may not take place if he gets a favourable ruling from de Wit on an application for a judicial stay of his prosecution.