Edmonton prosecutor denies she bought investigation time in Vader murder trial

The original prosecutor in Travis Vader’s murder trial flatly denied Tuesday that she stayed the charges against him to buy the investigation more time.

Michelle Doyle continued her Court of Queen’s Bench testimony in a hearing to determine if the prosecution abused the judicial process in 2014 when they stayed Vader’s murder charges and caused a two-year delay in his trial. Vader is seeking for the charges to be stayed again and the prosecution halted.

Doyle told court she was prepared to prosecute Vader on a circumstantial case and only stayed the charges because RCMP investigators failed to provide full disclosure on time.

"It was a perfect time to say, ‘I need time to investigate this further,’ " suggested Brian Beresh, Vader’s defence lawyer. "The stay was just convenient to buy more time."

Doyle denied that suggestion and testified she wasn’t even sure if the charges would be brought back to court.

Vader, 43, faces murder charges in the deaths of Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife, Marie, 77. The St. Albert couple was last seen on July 3, 2010, buying gas before they headed toward British Columbia. Two days later, their burning motorhome was found near an Edson-area campground. Their bodies have never been found.

Vader’s previously scheduled trial was derailed on March 29, 2014, when prosecutors stayed the murder charges because of the RCMP’s lack of disclosure.

Only two days after the stay of charges, court heard, emails between RCMP investigators stated the prosecution wanted the charges brought back to court as soon as possible. The same email said the charges were stayed "in part" because of disclosure issues.

Doyle testified that she didn’t know why RCMP officers would have thought there were other reasons behind the stay or that the charges would quickly be brought back to court.

While Beresh has blamed the prosecution for the two-year delay in Vader’s trial, the prosecution has blamed the RCMP. In court documents, current prosecutor Ashley Finlayson called the RCMP’s late, incomplete disclosure a "fiasco" that put Vader’s right to a fair trial in jeopardy. The RCMP’s disclosure problems were egregious, according to the prosecution.

The hearing continues.

Vader is scheduled to go to trial in March 2016.