A murder re-trial got under way last week at Queen's Bench Court House in Battleford involving a Lloydminster killing in 2005.
Gordon Dwight Hurley, an Alberta truck driver, faces a charge of second-degree murder in the death of 20-year old Jarita Naistus, with Hurley accused of killing Naistus in a Lloydminster motel room.
She was found dead October 2, 2005. The Crown is alleging Hurley beat and strangled Naistus to death.
Hurley had previously been tried and convicted on the charge in 2007 but a new trial was ordered by the Court of Appeal in 2009. The appeal was granted on grounds the judge in the original trial failed to warn the jury that one of the witnesses was a jailhouse informant who was facing charges of his own and aware of a reward offer for information about the killing. That appeal ruling was later upheld in a Supreme Court of Canada decision in March 2010.
The trial got under way last Monday. The Crown began calling witnesses last week, with police testimony entered into evidence. The trial is expected to last several days.
