A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for Dennis Oland later this fall to hash out some issues before setting a date for his second-degree murder retrial.
It was expected that a new trial date would be set at the Court of Queen’s Bench hearing in Saint John this morning, but it was once again delayed — back in early August, it was said that some issues needed to be ‘ironed out’ and so the scheduling of the trial date was put off until today.
Justice Terrence Morrison, who will be the retrial judge, made the suggestion they hold this pre-trial conference before setting a trial date as there are a number of factors that will have an impact on when it begins, including the number of Crown witnesses and the schedule of their testimony.
“It would be my hope that at the conclusion of the pre-trial conference we should be able to set some firm trial dates,” Justice Morrison told the court.
Dennis Oland attended the hearing, sitting by himself in the middle of the gallery. The Saint John police department’s Constable Stephen Davidson, the lead investigator in the Oland case and Sergeant Jay Henderson of the Major Crime Unit were also in the courtroom.
The pre-trial conference is scheduled for the morning of November 2. Justice Morrison wants written submissions from both the defence and the Crown by October 26.
Oland is currently out on bail, after his conviction in the murder of his father, Richard Oland, was overturned by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal last October and a new trial granted over the judge’s instructions to the jury.