Article content material
The murder suspect on the middle of a battle between prison legal professionals and Authorized Support now has the lawyer of his alternative.
Article content material
Protection lawyer Rebecca Snukal appeared in provincial courtroom on Wednesday to set a two-week trial in July for Samuel Kong Liong.
Article content material
The Calgary-based Felony Protection Attorneys Affiliation unsuccessfully sought a courtroom order in December to pressure the province to complement the then-current Authorized Support fee so Liong might afford to retain Snukal.
The day after Choose Susan Pepper denied CDLA consultant Kelsey Sitar’s bid on Liong’s behalf, the county introduced a 25 % enhance within the hourly Authorized Support fee from $100 to $125.
On Wednesday, Snukal informed Choose Eric Tolppanen that the case didn’t have to come back again earlier than Pepper, who indicated that if Authorized Support couldn’t discover competent counsel for Liong, she would rethink the difficulty.
Article content material
Liong is charged with manslaughter in reference to the demise of Mayiel Deng Kiir on July 24, 2021.
He additionally faces a separate set of costs, together with theft and kidnapping allegationswhich is able to go to trial in February, though it’s prone to be postponed.
The day after Pepper’s ruling, the county introduced a $25-an-hour enhance within the Authorized Support fee, ending the commercial motion.
The province earlier raised the hourly pay given to legal professionals on authorized help certificates from $92.40 to $100 in October, an 8.225 % enhance made attainable by a lift to federal authorities funding.
The 2 mixed bumps quantity to a greater than 35 % enhance within the fee from earlier within the 12 months.
Justice Minister Tyler Shandro stated the rise was the results of a authorities request final April to get Authorized Support Alberta “conduct a modernization evaluation” of the system.
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
