Buffalo Narrows man appears in M L court on murder charges newsoptimist.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsoptimist.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The court heard that both defence and Crown are waiting to receive additional disclosure from RCMP Major Crimes. Merasty and Whitecap are both charged with second-degree murder. Whitecap is additionally charged with assault with a weapon, uttering threats and breach of an undertaking. According to Meadow Lake RCMP, police and EMS were called to a home on Flying Dust First Nation at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2021, after reports of an alleged stabbing. Kenneth Merasty was found suffering from serious injuries and taken to hospital where he was pronounced deceased a short time later. Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crime Unit North took over the investigation.
Gardiner, 42, has been in custody 11 months on these charges. The Supreme Court ruled, in 2016, that court cases must be heard within 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in superior court. If they aren’t, the case could be thrown out of court. The COVID-19 pandemic has created delays and a backlog in Saskatchewan’s court system but it’s not the pandemic causing these delays but rather the defendant. Gardiner has gone through about five lawyers. He has either fired the lawyers or they have withdrawn from representing him. On March 1 Pfefferle asked for a week’s adjournment telling the court he is in discussions with the Crown about the possibility of running an abbreviated preliminary hearing for Gardiner. Gardiner wants a preliminary hearing and a trial in Court of Queen’s Bench with a judge and jury.