Second Trial for Alberta Truck Driver Began Today

Monday, January 17, 2011 at 15:55

 

 

A second trial has begun in the case of an Alberta man accused of killing an Onion Lake woman.

 

In 2007, Gordon Dwight Hurley was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Jarita Naistus.

 

She was found dead in a Lloydminster motel room in October 2005.

 

Hurley appealed his conviction. That appeal was upheld, resulting in the current trial, which is scheduled to last three weeks.

 

Today, court heard from the first witness, an RCMP officer.

 

Morgan Buckingham, a constable at the time, testified he was called to the motel at about 11:40 a.m. to a report of a death.

 

He arrived with several other officers.

 

Buckingham said he saw the body of a woman lying on the floor of a hotel room. She was partly covered by bedsheets pulled down from a nearby bed.

 

Another constable knelt down beside her and confirmed she was dead.