7 more inmates on trial for beating at Burnside jail
CBC
The trial of seven men accused of severely beating a man at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth got underway Wednesday, but one of the key people in the case was not there.
Kaz Cox, Austin Mitton, Kevin Clarke-McNeil, Andriko Crawley, Robert Fraser, Matthew Coaker and Geevan Nagendran are all facing charges including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault.
A total of 15 men are accused of attacking an inmate at the facility, which is better known as the Burnside jail, in December 2019.
Six of the accused were tried in September. Justice Jamie Campbell is the judge for both trials and will deliver verdicts for both later this month.
The current trial is scheduled to run for six consecutive days, including Saturday and Sunday.
Brian James (BJ) Marriott was supposed to be part of this trial as well.
But his lawyer, Nathan Gorham, appeared before the judge by telephone on Tuesday to ask that Marriott's charges be severed from the others.
Campbell was reluctant to grant the request, especially as it came the day before the trial was to start.
"This matter of a severance is of grave concern to me," Campbell said.
"I understand the circumstances that you're in, but I'm quite concerned that tomorrow, when the trial begins, someone else will pop up and say, 'Me too.'"
That didn't happen; none of the seven other accused raised any objections as their trial began.
Gorham told the judge that he is currently tied up in a murder trial in Toronto that is running far longer than expected and that prevented him from being in Halifax for this case.
"We certainly didn't mean to be disrespectful to the court," Gorham said over the phone. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this."
The lawyer told the judge there's a chance the case against Marriott could be resolved without a trial as guilty pleas to some of the charges could be entered.
Math is not Berry Genge's strongest subject, but she credits her desire to solve problems and her interest in how things work for making her want to study engineering. The fourth-year UPEI student was one of 10 chosen in Canada this spring to become 3M National Student Fellows. The honour, administered by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), recognizes students who demonstrate leadership qualities both on and off campus.