BATTLEFORD – A new trial hasn't been set for the last of the 10 people to stand trial in 25-year-old Tiki Laverdiere’s death.
Jesse Sangster, 26, of Edmonton, had a trial scheduled for January in Battleford Court of King’s Bench but it didn’t proceed after Sangster discharged his lawyer.
Since then, several closed-door case management hearings have been held with no trial date set. Sangster’s latest case management was on Feb. 10 and a pre-trial hearing was set for March 17.
All preliminary hearings, trials, and sentencing hearings are under a sweeping publication ban that prohibits the publication of any details of the proceedings until all those charged have gone through the court system.
Sangster has been in custody since his arrest in July 2019. He was initially charged with accessory after the fact to murder. A month later the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder.
From July 2019 to August 2020, like a domino effect of arrests, the RCMP arrested 10 people in Saskatchewan and Alberta and charged them in Laverdiere’s murder.
Laverdiere, from Edmonton, was in Saskatchewan to attend Tristen Cook-Buckle's funeral on Thunderhild First Nation. She was reported missing to Battlefords RCMP May 12, 2019.
On June 10, 2019, Saskatchewan RCMP announced that Laverdiere’s disappearance was the result of foul play and they would be investigating her disappearance as a homicide. On July 11, 2019, a police dog found Laverdiere's remains in a rural area outside of North Battleford while RCMP were conducting a ground search.
North Battleford Senior Crown Chris Browne and Prosecutor Charlotte Morden are prosecuting the cases of the 10 accused in Laverdiere's murder.
Email Lisa Joy at [email protected]
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