Resolution conference set in Bernard death

Dwight Austin Isadore will have his charge of second-degree murder and two counts of child abandonment go to a resolution conference.

The 22 year-old Wagmatcook man is accused of killing Cassidy Bernard in her We’koqma’q home in 2018.

Bernard was the mother of Isadore’s twin infants. She was found dead Oct. 24, 2018, alone with her children. Those children are now being raised by family in the community.

Her death led to the Red Dress movement’s spreading across Nova Scotia, and a march across the Cape Breton causeway, actions all aimed at raising awareness about missing and murdered aboriginal women.

“In a resolution conference everything comes into play — the strengths or weaknesses of our case and the strength or weaknesses of the defence,” Crown attorney Peter Harrison said of the process held in chambers with a Supreme Court justice and the defence.

“This is not unusual in cases of (alleged) murder.”

The meeting before a judge other than the one who would preside at trial can result in a deal between the parties, such as a pleading to a lesser charge.

It was over a year after Bernard’s body was discovered that Isadore was arrested for her murder.

The RCMP’S investigation used a version of the Mr. Big sting where an undercover officer pretends to be a member of the criminal underworld to gain the suspect’s trust. In other cases where the Mr. Big sting has been used, its admissibility has been challenged, sometimes successfully, by the defence.

Isadore’s resolution conference is scheduled for June 4.

If it is unsuccessful, he is scheduled to stand trial on July 8.