Manitoba

New trial date set for 2017 in Candace Derksen killing

A date has been set for a new trial in the death of Winnipeg teenager Candace Derksen 31 years ago. Mark Edward Grant is scheduled to be tried on a charge of second-degree murder in January 2017.

Mark Edward Grant, who was convicted in 2011, has denied killing Winnipeg teen

Mark Edward Grant, left, was convicted in 2011 of second-degree murder in connection to the 1984 death of 13-year-old Candace Derksen, right. (CBC)

A date has been set for a new trial in the death of a Winnipeg girl 31 years ago.

Mark Edward Grant is scheduled to be tried on a charge of second-degree murder in January 2017.

Grant was convicted of killing 13-year-old Candace Derksen in 2011, but the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2013, and that ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The higher courts said the trial judge erred in not allowing the defence to present evidence that pointed to another possible killer — an unidentified man involved in a similar attack while Grant was in custody.

Candace's body was found in a storage shed near her Winnipeg home six weeks after she disappeared.

The Crown announced earlier this year it would seek a new trial, and the victim's mother has said she still believes Grant is the killer.

The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 16, 2017, and run until March 3, 2017.

With files from CBC News