Nunavut Mountie murder trial date set

The murder trial of a man accused of gunning down an RCMP officer in Kimmirut, Nunavut, will begin in late February.

Pingoatuk Kolola, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 2007, death of Const. Douglas Scott in the remote Baffin Island hamlet.

Scott, 20, was shot dead while he was responding to an impaired-driving call in the community.

Kolola appeared in an Iqaluit courtroom on Wednesday morning, when the court announced that jury selection will begin in Kimmirut on Feb. 19, 2010.

If an impartial jury cannot be found in Kimmirut, a community of about 400, other communities may be targeted for jury selection.

Three weeks have been set aside for the trial itself, which will take place in Iqaluit because there is no appropriate venue in Kimmirut.

Earlier this month, the court held voir dire hearings to determine what can and cannot be submitted as evidence in Kolola's trial.

Publication bans prohibit the media from reporting on details from the voir dire hearings.

The date for Kolola's trial was set on the same day that a jury in the Northwest Territories begins deliberating in the first-degree murder trial of Emrah Bulatci, accused of shooting RCMP Const. Christopher Worden to death in Hay River, N.W.T., less than one month prior to Scott's death.