2 inmates accused of assaulting Dennis Oland in prison seek legal aid
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon | CBC News | Posted: February 9, 2017 5:01 PM | Last Updated: February 10, 2017
Oland, who spent 10 months in prison, played no role in charges being laid, family lawyer says
Two violent offenders charged with assaulting Dennis Oland in a New Brunswick prison last summer have had their cases adjourned again while they continue to seek legal aid.
Cody Alexander Muise, 27, and Aaron Marriott, 26, both appeared in Miramichi provincial court on Thursday afternoon via video conference but did not elect how they wish to be tried or enter any pleas.
They are scheduled to return to court on March 9 at 1:30 p.m.
Muise and Marriott are accused of assaulting Oland at the Atlantic Institution in Renous on July 31.
Oland, 48, spent about 10 months in custody after a jury found him guilty in December 2015 of second-degree murder in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, Saint John multimillionaire Richard Oland.
We just want to make it abundantly clear that he has not been involved in any way, shape or form with respect to the laying of charges against these two individuals. - Bill Teed, Oland family lawyer
He was released on bail under conditions on Oct. 25, after the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury.
Oland played no role in the assault charges being laid, Oland family lawyer Bill Teed told CBC News.
"I just want to make it very clear on behalf of Dennis Oland that Dennis at no time has laid any complaint with respect to any alleged assault," said Teed.
"He has not been involved in any investigation of any alleged assault, and he has not had any discussions with the Crown prosecutor's office with respect to the laying of any charges with respect to an alleged assault."
"There's been some inference drawn by some that he has, and we just want to make it abundantly clear that he has not been involved in any way, shape or form with respect to the laying of charges against these two individuals."
No details about the alleged assault have been released, and Teed declined to comment.
Because the alleged assault occurred at a maximum security prison, the Crown is proceeding by way of indictment, rather than the lesser summary offence of assault.
Indictable assault carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The RCMP northeast district laid the charges. Muise and Marriott both previously appeared in court via video conference on Jan. 12.
Muise is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in a 2010 shooting death in Spryfield, N.S.
Marriott is serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside the IWK children's hospital in Halifax in 2008.
According to the prison's website, the Atlantic Institution in Renous "accommodates all maximum-security offenders in the Atlantic region [who] cannot be managed in any other facility."
Crown prosecutors are seeking leave to appeal Oland's murder conviction being overturned to the Supreme Court of Canada, and Oland's defence team plans to cross-appeal, seeking an acquittal instead of a retrial.
The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear the matter. It receives about 600 applications for leave to appeal each year. Only about 80 are granted. There is no deadline for a decision.
If a new murder trial goes ahead, it is not expected to be heard until 2018.