Former pimp accused of murdering mother and daughter to face jury in November 2018
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: August 4, 2017 5:08 PM | Last Updated: August 4, 2017
Edward Downey is accused of killing Sara Baillie and Taliyah Marsman in July 2016
The former pimp accused of murdering a five-year-old and her mother will face a jury trial beginning Nov. 26, 2018.
Edward Downey was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie, 34, and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman, who were killed in July 2016.
Defence lawyer Meryl Friedland and prosecutor Carla McPhail told Court of Queen's Bench Justice David Gates the trial is expected to take three weeks.
Baillie's body was discovered in the basement suite she shared with her daughter in the northwest community of Panorama Hills, but the girl was missing from the home, triggering an Amber Alert.
It was called off when Marsman's body was found east of Calgary near a rural road close to Chestermere.
Downey has a criminal history involving pimping, drug trafficking and weapons offences dating back more than two decades.
He has ties to North Preston's Finest, an organized crime group based in Nova Scotia that is involved mostly in pimping and human trafficking.
A jury will be selected the week before the trial.