lawyer will make second attempt to reach plea bargain for murder suspect
the lawyer for murder suspect jordan smith will make a ...
sep 13 2024
1 minute read
the calgary courts centre on march 11, 2024.
jim wells/postmedia
the lawyer for murder suspect jordan smith will make a second bid to complete a plea bargain to a lesser charge on his client’s behalf.
defence counsel adriano iovinelli appeared in calgary court of king’s bench on friday and asked justice nancy dilts to schedule a disposition hearing for smith in november, in advance of a scheduled trial beginning dec. 2.
iovinelli was last in court on behalf of smith in july seeking a psychiatric assessment to determine if she was unfit to stand trial.
“i hope the court received the letter … indicating my client is fit,” the lawyer said.
dilts confirmed she had received the correspondence from dr. yuri metelitsa confirming smith understands the legal process and can instruct her counsel on how to proceed.
iovinelli explained smith was scheduled to plead guilty to manslaughter last january, but after grisly details of the death of her former boyfriend, marshall rath, were read into the record, justice earl wilson question her if she wanted to maintain her guilty plea and forgo a trial, which could result in an acquittal.
“i would like to have a trial,” she told wilson.
iovinelli said wilson was being cautious in ensuring smith understood the ramifications of her plea, something required under the criminal code.
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“we were right through the guilty plea … and then justice wilson did his own version of (the criminal code section) and it went off the rails,” the lawyer said.
he told dilts the guilty plea needed to be scheduled in november, before the dec. 2, trial date in case the proposed resolution hits a similar snag.
smith’s co-accused in the apparent love triangle turned deadly is set to stand trial at that time in connection with rath’s feb. 22, 2022, death in a downtown apartment unit.
“the goal here is to have the matter resolved before the trial date,” iovinelli said.
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