The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor James Noel Desmarais again has legal representation after the murder suspect's first two lawyers withdrew from his case. But the man charged in last fall's death of Raylene Dawn Grant has yet to enter a plea as both the prosecution and defense await new evidence. 'We're still waiting for some further forensic and lab reports and things like that, so the (evidence) disclosure is still not quite complete,' said Crown prosecutor Todd Rambow. No guarantee While Flin Flon RCMP say Desmarais confessed to the murder, that is no guarantee he will plead guilty in court. Rambow said there has been no indication from the defense whether the confession will translate into a guilty plea. 'We haven't gotten that far with it,' he said. 'They (the defense) of course don't want to commit to much of anything until they have complete (evidence) disclosure.' Speaking from his office in The Pas, Rambow said he expects the upcoming evidence will be made available over the next month or so, at the latest. See 'Pros...' on pg. 9 Continued from pg. 1 Rambow had earlier said the charge of second-degree murder against Desmarais could change, but until the remaining evidence comes in, he cannot comment any further on that possibility. Desmarais' first two lawyers sought and received permission to bow out of the case, though Rambow could not speculate as to why. He said the accused secured his current lawyer, John Skinner of The Pas, over a month ago. Court appearance Desmarais, 45, remains in custody in The Pas Correctional Centre. He is scheduled to make his next court appearance in that community on Monday. RCMP have released few details of their investigation into the Oct. 31, 2011 death of Grant, 21, whose body was located in a room at the Royal Hotel. Police said Desmarais and Grant were known to each other, and that Desmarais visited the Flin Flon RCMP detachment to confess to her murder. Skinner, Desmarais' lawyer, was offered a chance to comment but did not return a message.
