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The adult suspect in the traffic-stop related death of Calgary police Sgt. Andrew Harnett has had his trial moved from summer 2022 to this fall.
Defence lawyer David Roper appeared in Court of Queen’s Bench Friday to reschedule the trial date for Amir Abdulrahman.
Two weeks ago lead defence counsel Balfour Der appeared in court to set a two-week jury trial to begin June 20, 2022.
But at that time Der indicated he would try to free up time in his schedule to have an earlier hearing.
Crown prosecutor Carla MacPhail said Justice David Gates had asked both sides to see if they could free up some earlier dates.
Roper said the lawyer was able to make room in his calendar to conduct the jury trial to run from Dec. 6 to 17, when assigned prosecutors Mike Ewenson and Naina Singh are also available.
Abdulrahman, 20, was not present for the rescheduling of his trial date.
He’s charged with first-degree murder in the New Year’s Eve death of Harnett, who was killed after he’d pulled over a vehicle for a routine traffic stop and was dragged before becoming dislodged and struck by an oncoming car.
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A then-17-year-old youth accused of being behind the wheel is also charged with first-degree murder.
But that accused has only recently retained a new lawyer after his initial counsel only represented him at unsuccessful hearings to obtain his release pending trial.
New counsel Bob Aloneissi told court last month he needs to review disclosure before deciding how to proceed with the case.
Unlike Abdulrahman, the now-18-year-old, who can’t be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has a choice of whether to be tried in youth court, face a Court of Queen’s Bench judge sitting alone, or have a jury trial.
Adults charged with murder must face a jury unless the Crown agrees to let them re-elect to a judge-alone trial.
Abdulrahman remains in custody pending his trial.
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
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