No verdict yet in Moncton double-murder trial

Jurors in a Moncton double-murder trial resumed deliberations Saturday afternoon after listening again to hours of witness testimony, but no verdict was reached before they halted for the night.

The 12 jurors in Janson Baker's trial were sequestered late Thursday afternoon and by evening had asked to re-listen to hours of testimony from three witnesses.

Recordings of those witnesses were played Friday and Saturday. Jurors returned to the jury room to deliberate just after 3 p.m. Saturday. The jury was sent to a hotel for the night around 8 p.m. and will resume deliberations Sunday morning.

Baker's trial on two counts of first-degree murder began Jan. 3 in Moncton's Court of King's Bench. It's alleged he killed Bernard Saulnier, 78, and his wife Rose-Marie Saulnier, 74, in their Dieppe home on Sept. 7, 2019.

The trial heard from more than 30 witnesses for the prosecution and defence over two months.

The Crown alleges Baker was hired by a drug trafficking group to kill Sylvio Saulnier, the couple's son who lived with them at the time.

Sylvio Saulnier was part of the drug trafficking group, but a rift had developed after a series of police raids as members of the group believed Sylvio stole money and was a police informant.

Baker, the Crown's case alleges, went to the Saulnier home, cut a screen door to enter, herded the couple into a bedroom and shot them once each in the head.

Baker himself testified during the trial. The 29-year-old denied killing anyone and said he was elsewhere the night the couple died.

The testimony replayed Saturday was from one of the Crown's main witnesses. The witness cannot be named due to a publication ban on his identity.

The witness testified he had conversations with Baker in prison in 2020, months after the alleged murders, in which Baker confessed to the killings. Baker denies the conversations ever happened.