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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Crowded court docket little lighter
Man admits attack on woman
Winnipeg’s crowded court docket is now a little lighter after the sudden collapse of a looming jury trial.
Martin Derksen had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and was set to begin fighting for his freedom on Monday. A panel of 12 citizens was selected last week to hear the case. But their services will no longer be required after Derksen appeared Friday to change his plea to guilty. He admitted to the 2004 attack on a young woman in which DNA evidence was ultimately used to charge him years later.
Derksen will now be sentenced on Sept. 12, at which time additional facts will be given by lawyers. He is being held in custody without bail.
Six jury cases were set to begin in September, which justice officials say may be an all-time record for a single month. Two began this past week, two more were set for Monday and two more are slated for Sept. 24.
The large number meant hundreds of citizens spent two full days at the downtown Law Courts last week going through the gruelling process of jury selection.
Here are the other five jury cases:
ζ JOSEPH HEAD: Charged with second-degree murder for the January 2009 shooting death of Shawn Beauchamp, 26. The victim was shot in the area of St. John’s Avenue and Charles Street. Head’s trial began this past Tuesday and is slated to last up to three weeks.
ζ ELWYN EVANS: Charged with numerous weapons-related offences following a raid of an Interlake property in 2006. Police seized several high-powered firearms in Komarno, about 75 kilometres north of Winnipeg. His trial began this past Tuesday and is slated to last up to four weeks.
ζ TENNESSEE WEEDMARK: Charged with second-degree murder for a June 2009 attack that killed Albert Goosehead III, 12. The boy was beaten inside a house on Bloodvein First Nation. Weedmark’s trial begins Monday and is slated to last up to three weeks.
ζ NICHOLAS SOMERS: Charged with manslaughter for a July 2010 fight outside a Corydon Avenue bar. Gary Rent, 33, died in hospital of injuries suffered during an assault outside Bar Italia. The trial for Somers begins Sept. 24 and is slated to last up to three weeks.
ζ GERARDO LAGOS: Charged with aggravated assault after a man was shot in the leg outside a Portage Avenue bar in 2007. His trial begins Sept. 24 and is slated to last up to two weeks.
www.mikeoncrime.com
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