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Decide Lloyd Robertson of the provincial courtroom is operating out of endurance with convicted fraudster Ronald James Aitkens.
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Protection legal professional Brian Beresh appeared earlier than Robertson on Tuesday to inform him his consumer was nonetheless awaiting knee surgical procedure that had been canceled twice by his Mexican physician.
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Beresh mentioned Aitkens, 68, had surgical procedure scheduled for January 20, but it surely was postponed on the final minute as a result of his physician had a tutorial battle.
The legal professional mentioned the process has been rescheduled to start Tuesday in Mexico.
“Then on March 1 he obtained a letter from the physician that the operation was postponed to March 7-9 ‘resulting from circumstances past our management,'” he mentioned, quoting from the be aware despatched to Aitkens.
Robertson gave the lawyer till March 20 to provide you with a definitive reply to his consumer’s scenario and mentioned a sentencing listening to would then be scheduled and would happen even when Aitkens needed to seem remotely.
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“The endurance of the courtroom is beginning to put on skinny this manner,” mentioned Robertson, who convicted the Calgary man of two counts beneath the Alberta Securities Act in July 2020.
Robertson discovered Aitkens dedicated fraud beneath the regulation in reference to an actual property challenge by which practically 1,500 traders shelled out greater than $35 million.
Prosecutor Adam Karbani mentioned a sentencing listening to ought to be held as quickly as potential.
“Mr. Aitkens was convicted over two-and-a-half years in the past,” Karbani famous.
The case, which first got here earlier than the courtroom in 2013, has been topic to repeated delays, primarily associated to a pretrial movement by which Aitkens’ former legal professional challenged laws that prohibited the trial from being heard by a jury.
Underneath the regulation, the utmost jail sentence is 5 years much less a day, whereas the Constitution says accused individuals dealing with a sentence of 5 years or extra are entitled to a jury of their friends.