Accused dies in prison while awaiting trial in killing case
An Ottawa man awaiting trial for first-degree murder has died of an apparent drug overdose while in jail.
Steven Frenette was being held at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay while he awaited trial for the December 2016 fatal shooting of Lee Germain. Frenette died while in custody at the jail on Thursday.
He was due back in Ottawa court on Nov. 1, with a four-week murder trial set to begin in March.
Frenette surrendered to police at the end of 2016, five days after detectives obtained a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest.
On Dec. 10, 2016, patrol officers responded to reports of gunshots on McLeod Street in Centretown. Once there, they found an injured Germain, 32, inside a three-storey Ottawa Community Housing building at 571 McLeod St. He was pronounced dead at hospital.
Germain, remembered by his friends as a man devoted to his family while he tried hard to battle addiction, was survived by a young daughter, Chloe, and his partner, Maddison Kuhn.
According to court records, Frenette was convicted on two separate drug-possession charges in 2014, several charges of failing to comply with bail or other conditions, and one of failing to appear in court.
He faced 21 drugs and weapons charges for an incident in 2010 but all 21 were withdrawn.
They included drug possession, possession for the purpose of trafficking, careless storage or use of a firearm or ammunition, possession of a dangerous weapon, and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Frenette was also convicted of two robberies in 2007 and one in 2004.