The Crown wants Trevor McGuigan removed as lawyer for Randy Desmond Riley, a Dartmouth man awaiting retrial for murder in the 2010 shooting death of a pizza delivery driver.
The issue surfaced Thursday, when Riley appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax by video from jail to confirm dates for a bail hearing.
“The Crown is of the view that Mr. McGuigan can’t act as counsel for Mr. Riley,” prosecutor Peter Craig informed the court.
Craig said he intends to file an application to have McGuigan removed as solicitor of record and asked Justice Denise Boudreau to delay a bail hearing until after the motion is heard and ruled upon.
He did not elaborate on why the Crown believes McGuigan, who also represented Riley at his first trial in 2018, is in a conflict of interest.
Riley, 29, is one of two men charged in the Oct. 23, 2010, killing of Donald Chad Smith. The 27-year-old father of two died from a shotgun blast to the chest after delivering a pizza to an address on Joseph Young Street in north-end Dartmouth.
The Crown alleged Riley killed Smith in revenge for an earlier assault with a hammer and that Nathan Tremaine Johnson phoned the pizza shop to lure Smith to the address where the shooting occurred.
Johnson, 28, of Cherry Brook, was found guilty in 2015 of first-degree murder. Riley, who was also charged with first-degree murder, was found guilty in 2018 of the lesser offence of second-degree murder.
Riley appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which unanimously quashed his conviction last month and ordered a new trial on charges of second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
McGuigan told the court Thursday he disagrees with the Crown’s position and doesn’t feel the application to have him removed from the case will have any merit.
“I expect the court doesn’t need us or want us to get into the substance of that issue this morning,” the defence lawyer said.
“The problem for Mr. Riley, of course, is that he’s seeking judicial interim release. He has a right to do so. He has the right to reasonable bail.”
McGuigan said the Crown’s motion should be heard as soon as possible so his client, who has been in custody since the summer of 2013, can have a bail hearing.
The judge ordered Craig to file his motion by Friday and scheduled it to be heard Dec. 14.
Boydreau said she had received a letter from Craig about the intended motion, “but I don’t know what is behind it.”
“Once that issue is dealt with … people should then be prepared to deal with where we go from there with Mr. Riley’s bail hearing.”
She assured Riley that his wish to have a bail hearing is “foremost” in her mind.
Dates have yet to be set for Riley's new trial, which will be heard by a jury. There have been no jury trials in the Halifax region since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and they're not expected to resume until at least March.
