CORNER BROOK, N.L. — With trial dates set for May 2020 a Corner Brook judge is doing what he can to make sure a home invasion case that now dates back five and a half years remains on track.
Andre Lecuyer, 38, is facing charges of unlawful confinement, armed robbery, having his face masked with the intent to commit an indictable offence and break and enter.
It’s alleged he broke into a man’s home on Humber Road on Jan. 31, 2014, and tied the man up with plastic cable ties.
Lecuyer was to stand trial in 2016, but the charges were dismissed after Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Brian Furey decided that his Charter rights had been breached and ordered evidence from the investigation excluded.
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The Crown appealed the Charter application decision and on Dec. 8, 2017, a panel of appeal judges vacated Furey’s ruling and remitted the matter for a new trial.
That trial was to have taken place this past April, but before that Lecuyer filed another Charter application seeking to once again have the evidence excluded. This time Justice George Murphy decided his rights had not been violated.
But by the time the trial came around Lecuyer was without representation. The court has been waiting since then for him to resolve that issue.
In June, he told the court he was in the process of appealing the legal aid decision to deny him counsel.
During an appearance on July 29, Lecuyer said he still hadn’t completed that process. Judge Murphy expressed his frustration over the slow pace the case is taking.
With the trial set for May 25-29, 2020, Murphy said he would continue to call the matter to ensure it doesn’t fall through the cracks and set it again for Aug. 26.
Murphy also made it clear to Lecuyer, who now lives in Halifax and appeared by teleconference, that he wanted an update on the status of his efforts via email in advance of that date.
The judge told Lecuyer he had to provide that update by Aug. 23 with instructions it be received before 4 p.m. Newfoundland time.
If Lecuyer is successful in getting legal representation, Murphy said he expected that person to appear in person or by phone on Aug. 26.
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