The firearms charge against Gerald Stanley will return to provincial court after the case involving the more serious murder charge against Stanley is concluded.
A date of March 19 has been set for two charges of unsafe storage of a firearm under s.86(2) of the Criminal Code. A waiver of delay was also granted on that particular count.
That was the only matter in provincial court Monday regarding Stanley, who is already committed to stand trial in Queen's Bench court for the second degree murder of Colten Boushie in August, 2016. Both the murder charge and the firearms charge stem from the same incident last year at a farm in the RM of Glenside.
A preliminary hearing on the murder charge took place in provincial court in North Battleford in April. The firearms storage charges were adjourned at that same time to Monday afternoon.
The latest court appearance in this high-profile case was a low-key one before Judge Bruce Bauer in North Battleford. Outside the court, the scene was relatively free of demonstrators with the exception of Debbie Baptiste, mother of Colten Boushie, who stood outside holding up a picture of her son.
Inside the courtroom, prosecutor Chris Browne appeared for the Crown, but Stanley himself was not in attendance as he remains out on bail. His defence lawyer Scott Spencer appeared by telephone conference call.
In his remarks, Spencer requested an adjournment until after the more serious charge was dealt with. Spencer also indicated a trial date had not been set yet on the murder charge and they were still working towards that.
A March date was requested to deal with the firearms charge and counsel quickly settled on March 19 at 1:30 p.m. in North Battleford.
