Defence seeks to reopen James Swift murder trial to call fresh evidence
Lawyers say new evidence concerns alleged admission by 1 of the original suspects
Lawyers defending two men in a Saskatoon murder trial say they've got new evidence about who killed James Swift.
Swift was killed Aug. 29, 2022, after an altercation over drugs. Swift's friend, Virginia Belhumeur, was also stabbed but she survived.
Anthony Burley, Coltin Lischka and Ashton Ritzand were each charged with second-degree murder in Swift's death.
In 2023, the charge against Burley was stayed and, earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter and evading police.
He was sentenced to three years.
Justice Michael Tochor reserved decision on the murder charges against Lischka and Ritzand when the judge-alone trial at Court of King's Bench wrapped in February.
On Tuesday, defence lawyers Nicholas Stooshinoff and Blaine Beaven, representing Lischka and Ritzand respectively, applied to re-open the trial and call fresh evidence.
Stooshinoff said Burley made an admission about his role in the murder after getting sentenced on the accessory charge.
"Other evidence has emerged that he may have given an admission, or a confession, to family members and they in turn gave that information to the police," he said in an interview.
"This has come after the fact and we want to have the opportunity to explore whether or not he did in fact make those admissions and confessions and if that will now materially impact the trial."
Stooshinoff said he and Beaven learned that Burley's estranged partner told her step-father that Burley confessed that he had fatally stabbed Swift. The step-father gave a statement to police, but the ex-girlfriend refused to talk.
Stooshinoff admitted the allegation is hearsay, but said that it should be allowed "because innocence is at stake."
The defence wants the opportunity to question the principals under oath.
Prosecutor Paul Scott is opposing the application, which he described as a "fishing expedition" that will only drag on a trial that is already complete.
"All they have is a hearsay statement, denied by the witness, and then a double hearsay statement," he said.
Tochor scheduled a voir dire, or trial within a trial, for May to hear detailed arguments and decide whether the evidence may be called.
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