Man accused of Dieppe double murder gets new lawyer, trial dates not set
Janson Baker faces two 1st-degree murder charges in 2019 deaths of Rose-Marie and Bernard Saulnier
A man accused of killing a Dieppe couple in 2019 has a new lawyer, a development that could affect when he stands trial.
Janson Bryan Baker, 28, faces two charges of first-degree murder. It's alleged he killed Bernard Saulnier, 78, and his wife Rose-Marie Saulnier, 74, on Sept. 7, 2019.
Baker appeared Thursday in Moncton's Court of King's Bench, where Brian Munro officially became his new defence lawyer.
The development followed a Crown request earlier this year that the judge revisit whether Baker's previous lawyer, Nathan Gorham, was in a conflict and should be removed from the case. A provincial court judge had ruled last year that Gorham wasn't in a conflict.
A hearing had been scheduled Wednesday. Justice Cameron Gunn said Thursday that Gorham had asked to withdraw from the case.
A publication ban restricts reporting why the Crown alleged Gorham was in a conflict.
No trial dates yet
It's unclear when the case will go to trial.
The court has previously heard that voir dires, hearings about admissibility of evidence, could take one month and that the jury trial could take four months. A judge in January indicated the trial could be scheduled to start in September this year, but that was before the conflict issue was raised again.
Munro told Gunn on Thursday that his schedule was booked into December 2026.
"My calendar is completely jammed for the most part," Munro said.
The judge said they would deal with scheduling later. The case is scheduled to return to court May 20.
When the trial takes place matters because of a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision.
The Jordan decision calls for most trials in the Court of King's Bench to be finished within 30 months of charges being laid to protect an accused's right to be tried in a reasonable time.
The 30-month ceiling in Baker's case would be March 7, 2026.
The charges against Baker were laid in 2023 on the fourth anniversary of the discovery of the Saulniers' bodies in their Amirault Street home.
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