A judge has reserved his decision until next month whether or not to reopen the Douglas Hales murder trial.
Hales is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Daleen Bosse of Onion Lake Cree Nation who was last seen in May 2004.
RCMP officers used a Mr. Big undercover operation to obtain murder confessions out of Hales in 2008.
In this type of operation, officers pose as a fictitious criminal organization and lure the target in with promises of big money, friendship and notoriety.
A verdict in the case was initially supposed to come down in late August.
However, a Supreme Court ruling in July draws into question the reliability of statements made during Mr. Big operations.
Defence lawyer Bob Hrycan wants to introduce a psychological assessment of Hales as evidence as part of an application to reopen the trial.
He says the Supreme Court ruling opens the door to a medical assessment of the psychological state of mind and reliability of the murder confessions Hales made to police in 2008.
“We know from the Supreme Court of Canada, that they now consider it important,” he says. “They now have instructed trial judges to consider the reliability of a statement made by a Mr. Big target in the context of that particular individual’s susceptibilities and malleabilities.”
However, prosecutor Matt Miazga says the Crown still believes the murder confessions introduced at the trial are reliable and it shouldn’t be reopened in spite of the Supreme Court ruling.
“The Hart case and of course there’s a sister case now, the Mac case, is it certainly has outlined a new rule of evidence that applies to these particular decisions,” he says. “But again, my view is that it doesn’t change the relevancy of certain evidence and those kinds of things are still the same as they were before.”
Both sides were in a Saskatoon courtroom Wednesday morning.
Justice Gerald Allbright will rule on whether or not to reopen the trial on Nov. 14.