BATTLEFORD – A new trial date has been set for the last of the 10 people charged in 25-year-old Tiki Laverdiere’s death. The five-week trial for Jesse Sangster is scheduled to run from Sept. 3, 2024, to Oct. 4, 2024, in Battleford Court of King’s Bench.
Sangster, now 27, has been in custody since his arrest in July 2019. He was initially charged with accessory after the fact to murder. A month later the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder. He is also charged with kidnapping, and improperly interfering with a human body.
In October 2020, Sangster was committed to stand trial following a three-week preliminary hearing in North Battleford Provincial Court. His trial was set for January 2023 in Battleford Court of King's Bench but didn't proceed after he discharged his lawyer. Since then, there have been numerous pre-trial conferences between the Crown, defence, and judge. Pre-trial conferences are held for several reasons, including to expedite the organization of the case, prepare for the trial to improve its quality, and to discuss potential plea agreements. The media aren't allowed to attend pre-trial conferences.
In October 2021, new charges of possession of property, a tractor, obtained by crime over $5,000, and failing to comply with a release order, were laid against Sangster. The charges stemmed from the time frame of Laverdiere’s murder. The details are under a publication ban. Those charges were stayed on April 26, 2023, in North Battleford Provincial Court.
From July 2019 to August 2020, police arrested 10 people in Saskatchewan and Alberta and charged them in Laverdiere’s murder.
All preliminary hearings, trials, and sentencing hearings are under a sweeping publication ban that prohibits the publication of any details of the proceedings until all those charged have gone through the court system.
North Battleford Senior Crown Chris Browne and Prosecutor Charlotte Morden are prosecuting the cases of the 10 accused in Laverdiere's murder.
Laverdiere, from Edmonton, was in Saskatchewan in April 2019 to attend Tristen Cook-Buckle's funeral on Thunderhild First Nation. She was reported missing to Battlefords RCMP May 12, 2019.
On June 10, 2019, Saskatchewan RCMP announced that Laverdiere’s disappearance was the result of foul play and they would be investigating her disappearance as a homicide. On July 11, 2019, a police dog found Laverdiere's remains in a rural area outside of North Battleford while RCMP were conducting a ground search.
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