The prosecutor wants to make sure the trial of Devon Larabie will go ahead in November and there won’t be any last minute changes to postpone it.
By that time it will have been three and a half years since the body of Breanna Menacho was discovered in a Yellowknife apartment. Larabie is charged with second-degree murder in the death of the 22 year old.
Larabie, 30, sat slouched in a chair in a room at the North Slave Correctional Complex, appearing by video in Northwest Territories Supreme Court in Yellowknife on Wednesday. The prosecutor was applying to have a lawyer appointed to shadow Larabie’s lawyer, Michael Spratt, through to the trial and during it.
“We’re trying to maximize our chances of proceeding in the fall of 2023,” prosecutor Blair McPherson told the judge.
McPherson then reviewed the delays in the case so far. Spratt is the fourth publicly-funded lawyer to represent Larabie in the case. Larabie dismissed his first lawyer early on. He fired his second lawyer just before his preliminary inquiry was to begin. Last September, he fired his third lawyer the day before his trial was to begin.
If appointed, a shadow lawyer (known as an amicus, or friend of the court, in Latin court terminology) could step in if Larabie fires his current lawyer. The lawyer would act as an advisor to Larabie, who would then be representing himself.
Spratt did not oppose the Crown’s application, adding, “I don’t foresee any issues between myself and Mr. Larabie.”
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Read Richard Gleeson full story: CBC News
