murder trial adjourned to 2023 after defence requests expert witness
stephen and telaina swiftwolfe-lewis, charged with second-degree murder in the death of dartagnan whitehead, were supposed to be tried by a jury this week.
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a second-degree murder trial scheduled to begin this week in saskatoon court of king’s bench has been adjourned until september 2023 to accommodate the defence’s request to find an expert witness. the request arose outside of last week’s voir dire hearing, before a jury trial for stephen alexander swiftwolfe-lewis, 19, and telaina hannah swiftwolfe-lewis, 21, crown prosecutor jennifer claxton-viczko confirmed.
the pair is accused in the death of 18-year-old dartagnan whitehead, who was found injured in the 100 block of avenue k south on july 11, 2020.
lawyers for the accused argued that a statement contained in disclosure — which was received in september — gave rise to a defence that required an expert witness, claxton-viczko said.
“crown argued that the material received, although it provided some additional details, was unlikely to give rise to a defence that wouldn’t or shouldn’t have already been considered, and if it had, the request should have come weeks ago, before witnesses were inconvenienced, court time wasted, and before the mother of the deceased got mentally prepared to attend trial after meeting with the crown last week,” she told the starphoenix.
“although (justice naheed bardai) had many questions as to why defence counsel hadn’t considered this issue sooner, he was not prepared to hold telaina and stephen to account for what may or may not have been a lack of diligence on the part of defence counsel or what may or may not have been late-breaking disclosure,” claxton-viczko said.
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the time previously scheduled for expert evidence on the trial proper next week will be used to conduct the expert qualification voir dires instead, she said.
voir dires, or admissibility hearings, in jury trials are often held before the trial proper because jurors can only hear evidence that is admissible. information presented during voir dires in jury trials can only be reported to the public after the jury is sequestered, or if an accused person re-elects to have a judge-alone trial.
aiden robert lachance, 26, is also charged with second-degree murder in connection with whitehead’s death, but will stand trial separately.
whitehead’s mother told the starphoenix in 2020 that her son died from gun violence after attending a birthday party at the house.
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