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The trial of a Moncton man accused of double murder has been delayed until next week, jurors were told Thursday.
“A legal issue has arisen,” Justice Cameron Gunn, the judge presiding over the trial, said when the jury was brought into the courtroom.
Janson Bryan Baker’s trial began Saturday in Moncton’s Court of King’s Bench with jury selection.
Baker has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
The Crown’s opening statement was given Tuesday followed by the first witness testimony. Weather led to the trial being delayed to Thursday for the second witness.
Jurors were brought into the courtroom about an hour late Thursday, and Gunn told them that something had arisen that he and lawyers needed to discuss outside their presence.
What happens in court while the jury isn’t present cannot be reported because of a standard publication ban.
While the jury was in the courtroom, Crown prosecutor James McConnell read an agreed statement of facts. It contains details Baker has agreed to, meaning no evidence or witness testimony is required to prove those details.
The statement said the deceased are Bernard Saulnier and Rose-Marie Saulnier, and that they died in Dieppe on or about Sept. 7, 2019. The statement said an autopsy was performed in Saint John on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, 2019, by Dr. Ken Obenson, a forensic pathologist.
After the statement was read, the judge told the jury they would return to court Monday morning.
“We’re off to a slow start, but we’ll catch up,” Gunn said.
The trial is scheduled to last three months.