2 accused in shooting death of OPP Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala going straight to trial

The two people charged with first-degree murder in the late December shooting death of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala will go straight to trial, skipping a preliminary hearing. 

Randall McKenzie, 25, and Brandi Stewart-Sperry, 30, made a court appearance on Tuesday in Cayuga, Ont., where the prosecutor was granted a direct indictment.

Dirk Derstine, Stewart-Sperry's lawyer, confirmed the indictment to CBC Hamilton, but declined to comment on the case.

Douglas Holt, McKenzie's lawyer, also confirmed the indictment and declined to comment.

A trial date has yet to be set.

Pierzchala, 28, was shot on Dec. 27 near Hagersville in Haldimand County, some 45 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, near Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and Six Nations of the Grand River.

OPP previously said Pierzchala was alone when he responded to a black truck in a ditch around 2:30 p.m. ET. He was "only on scene for a very short period of time" before he got shot, OPP said.

The service's commissioner also said Pierzchala, of Barrie, Ont., was ambushed and had no chance to defend himself. He died the same day he learned he had passed his 10-month probation.

Implications of skipping preliminary hearing

A provincial manual for Crown prosecutors lists various reasons for skipping a preliminary hearing, such as the need to avoid multiple proceedings, safety concerns for people involved in the proceedings or if a case is "notorious or of particular importance to the public."

A direct indictment was used when the Winnipeg Police Service charged Raymond Cormier with second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine.

She was from Sagkeeng First Nation, went missing in July 2014 and was found a month later in Winnipeg's Red River.

A jury found Cormier not guilty four years later and Crown prosecutors didn't appeal the case.

Cormier's lawyer, Tony Kavanagh, told CBC Hamilton in an email there's an "absolute benefit" to having preliminary hearings because it allows for a chance to weigh evidence and test crown witnesses.

"The accused would be able to see directly what they were facing," said Kavanagh, a former Crown prosecutor.

"Because a preliminary inquiry usually takes much less time than a trial, it provides an excellent basis for plea discussions in the right case. It would also allow both parties to determine the actual issues for trial, and would knock off several additional days that would not be needed for a trial."

He said that in Cormier's case, a preliminary hearing could have allowed for his client to be released earlier and not spend time in custody "he will never get back."

"It would have also perhaps pushed the police to pursue the other suspects," Kavanagh said.

A direct indictment was also used in the case of two former Hamilton paramedics charged in connection with the death of Yosif Al-Hasnawi.

Steven Snively and Christopher Marchant were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life when Al-Hasnawi, 19, was shot in the abdomen and killed on Dec. 2, 2017 — not long after he tried to help an older man who was accosted by two men outside a mosque.

The paramedics were found guilty and spared jail time, but were sentenced to 18 months in the community.

McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry are back in court on Sept. 29 in Cayuga.