By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Three weeks have been set aside in Surpeme Court starting on Nov. 22, where a jury will determine the guilt or innocence of Ian Matthew Huskins during his first-degree murder trial.
Huskins is accused of the July 11, 2009 killing of Neil Joseph Blades Jr.
A three-day preliminary inquiry in the case had been scheduled to go ahead in mid-September. But during a court appearance on Aug. 24 Huskins’ lawyer, Clifford Hood, waived the need for a preliminary hearing and instead said the defence was prepared to go straight to trial.
Huskins has been in custody since turning himself into police in early August 2009, two weeks after a warrant was issued for his arrest. A preliminary inquiry had originally been scheduled to go ahead in early May, but on the morning it was to begin the court proceeding was postponed due to a perceived conflict of interest involving a co-counsel in the case. Huskins’ lawyer felt he had to disqualify himself as a result of that perceived conflict of interest, temporarily putting Huskins’ case in limbo.
In Supreme Court on Tuesday, Huskins’ new lawyer said the cancellation of the preliminary inquiry – arising from a conflict that was not related to Huskins himself, but instead a co-accused in the case – has delayed the case by several months.
“The interest of my client at this point is to get on with this trial,” said Hood.
Justice Simon MacDonald agreed it is time to move forward with the process.
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“The man has been in custody since 2009, he’s entitled to his trial,” he said.
During Huskins’ arraignment in Supreme Court, the Crown noted it is still awaiting some forensic evidence in the case – evidence which the defence has also not yet seen.
All parties will be back in court on Sept. 23 to inform the court of the status of the case and to confirm if the trial will go ahead as scheduled in November.
Two other co-accused in this case have already been dealt with. Jermaine Middleton received a three-year prison term after pleading guilty to a charge of accessory to murder after the fact. He had originally been charged with first-degree murder but the Crown dropped that charge in March on the day Middleton’s preliminary hearing was to have been held. He was sentenced the following month.
In February, Alicia Anderson received house arrest as part of a conditional sentence of two years less a day after she pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact.
The evidence from Middleton and Anderson’s sentencing hearings remains under a publication ban so as not to taint Huskins’ jury trial.
Court documents allege that Blades was killed in Deerfield. His body was discovered in Eel Lake on Sunday evening, July 12, 2009 by a local resident who was walking over a bridge. He was 34 at the time of his death.
