Following a hearing Tuesday in which Travis Vader was granted bail, Vader’s lawyer said he is planning to challenge the reactivation of old murder charges.
Vader, 42, was rearrested last week on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann.
After a bail hearing in Edmonton at the Court of Queen’s Bench Tuesday afternoon, a judge granted Vader $25,000 bail on the condition that he remain under house arrest.
Vader was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in April 2012. The charges were suddenly stayed in March 2014, a few weeks before Vader was to have a jury trial, but reinstated on Friday, Dec. 19.
After more than four years in remand, Vader was released from custody on Oct. 8 when he was found not guilty of a series of unrelated drug, theft and firearms-related charges. He remained out of the public eye until Friday, when the RCMP announced he’d been arrested without incident and was in custody after the stayed murder charges had been recommenced.
Defence lawyer Brian Beresh told reporters after the bail hearing that he will be mounting a court challenge. He said it’s rare for the Crown to reactivate murder charges and officials have provided no explanation.
"There has to be some exceptional circumstance," Beresh said. "I have no new information about any new evidence whatsoever."
Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson said outside court that he’s not sure if the reactivation can be challenged.
He said that the Crown’s office originally stayed the murder charges because there was a "disclosure issue" and the case needed to be reviewed. The Crown had a one-year time limit to renew the charges.
"A decision had to be made prior to the expiration of that stay period," said Finlayson.
"The assessment was that it was in the public interest to proceed with the matter and there was a reasonable likelihood of conviction, and that would have been based on the material that was available."
He wouldn’t say if there is new evidence in the case.
"There’s additional material because time has passed. Beyond that, I can’t comment."
Alberta Justice spokesman Dan Laville said two tests have to be met to proceed with a prosecution.
"It is in the public interest and there is enough evidence for a reasonable likelihood of conviction," he said in an email on Monday.
Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife Marie, 77, were last seen fuelling up their motorhome in their hometown of St. Albert on July 3, 2010. Their motorhome was later found burning in an isolated campground near Edson.
Though their bodies have never been located, they have been declared homicide victims.
Mounties soon named Vader a person of interest and later a suspect in the case. He was held on unrelated charges until charged with the killings in 2012.
Earlier this year, Vader filed lawsuits against prosecutors and the RCMP claiming malicious prosecution. He alleges he was kept in custody on trumped-up charges until he could be charged with murdering the McCanns, as well as mistreatment by staff in the Edmonton Remand Centre.
When Vader walked out of the remand centre in March, he told reporters that he knew nothing about the McCanns and had been the subject of a witch hunt by the justice system.
Beresh said his client enjoyed his 10 weeks of freedom and was surprised when police arrested him again last week. "He was leading a normal life, taking courses, doing various things in the community, assimilating back into society."
Vader is to appear in court again Jan. 23. Finlayson said the case will continue where it left off before the stay of charges and a new trial date will be set.
