Trial of Winnipeg man accused of killing 4 women to be heard by jury, judge rules

A judge has ruled the trial of a Winnipeg man accused of killing four women in 2022 will still be heard by a jury, following repeated attempts by the defence to have the case instead heard by a judge alone.

On Friday, Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal dismissed a defence motion that argued the case should be heard by a judge because of concerns that publicity surrounding Jeremy Skibicki's case has tainted the jury pool.

Lawyers for Skibicki, 37, made arguments on that motion in court this week, just days before a jury is expected to start hearing evidence in the first-degree murder trial.

"While it is expected that jurors, much like judges, are shaped by their lived experience — including the media they ingest — in the Canadian judicial system, we believe jurors are able to rise to the heightened expectation required of their role, in order to ensure a fair trial is provided," Joyal said in a roughly 20-minute oral decision before a silent courtroom.

People leaned forward in their seats to hear his decision, and the grandmother of one of the victims clenched a fist in celebration as Joyal spoke.

This week's pretrial motion was the second the defence has made to try to stop the trial from being decided by a jury, after Joyal rejected a similar motion earlier this year.

Jurors in the case, who were selected last week, have not yet appeared in court. They're expected to start hearing evidence on Wednesday.

'Surreal' to see accused in court: estranged mother-in-law

Outside the courthouse on Friday, Skibicki's lawyer Leonard Tailleur said the judge's decision doesn't change anything for the defence as they prepare to head into the trial next week.

"His lordship made a decision, we had vigorous testimony. We thought our arguments were impeccable," Tailleur told reporters. "It's a long process, and here we are at Step 500. We're onwards and upwards."

Skibicki lawyer Leonard Tailleur, standing next to defence lawyer Alyssa Munce, spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following the judge's decision on Friday to keep the trial scheduled to be heard by a jury. (Karen Pauls/CBC)

Skibicki has has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of three First Nations women — Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and Rebecca Contois, 24 — and a fourth, unidentified woman, who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community members.

His lawyers said this week they plan to argue he's not criminally responsible in those deaths because of mental disorder — an approach Tailleur said on Friday will "be elucidated further" once the trial starts.

Skibicki sat quietly in court and stared ahead with his ankles shackled throughout court proceedings this week, as some family members of the victims, supporters and members of the public listened from the gallery — including Skibicki's estranged mother-in-law.

Lori, whom CBC is identifying only by her first name, said it was "surreal" to see the accused in court on Friday for the first time in years. She said while that time has been "horrible" and "very stressful" for her family, she's relieved the trial has finally arrived.

"It might be hard to hear, but it's necessary," she said, adding she was glad to hear the case will still be heard by a jury.

Jeremy Skibicki sat silently in the accused box near his lawyers on Monday. Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and a fourth unidentified woman community members named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. (James Culleton)

Lawyers for the accused and the Crown made their closing arguments Wednesday on the judge-only motion, with the defence raising concerns about the potential for unconscious bias given how much publicity has surrounded the case.

Skibicki's lawyers also argued that by not agreeing to allow the accused a judge-alone trial, prosecutors violated his Charter rights. The Crown's consent is required for a judge-alone trial on certain charges, including murder.

Prosecutors pushed back against those arguments, pointing out that all the jurors picked to hear the case told a judge they could be impartial, and that just under half said they had never heard about the case to begin with.

Experts contradicted each other: judge

The defence motion leaned heavily on a poll Skibicki's legal team commissioned earlier this year, in which nearly all respondents said they had heard about the case, and a large proportion said they believed the accused is guilty.

Court also heard earlier this week from two experts called by the defence, including the pollster whose company conducted that survey. He testified the sample used was representative of Winnipeg and Manitoba.

The defence also called a U.S.-based expert on the effect of pretrial publicity on jury verdicts, who worked with Skibicki's defence team to create the questions asked in the poll. She testified the effects of pretrial publicity can be extremely difficult for jurors to overcome.

However, Justice Joyal said Friday he found the two defence experts at times seemed to contradict each other.

While the pollster said the opinions in the survey represent only a snapshot in time — and people can change their minds later on with more information — the jury expert was adamant that it can be nearly impossible for a juror to change their mind about a case once they form an opinion based on seeing media reports.

The judge also said he gave "limited weight" to the U.S.-based expert's testimony, since she lacked experience with the Canadian jury system.

The judge ultimately found Skibicki's lawyers didn't prove the trial was "one of the clearest of cases" where the requirement for Crown consent for a judge-alone trial should be overridden.

Jurors were asked 'unusually high' number of questions

Justice Joyal also pointed out that jurors were selected to hear the case "only after they were subject to a rigorous challenge for cause, consisting of an unusually high number of questions."

Those questions, submitted by Skibicki's defence, included whether potential jurors had heard anything about the case, participated in protests or vigils related to the victims, and whether they'd be open to finding someone not criminally responsible.

Jurors also got specific instructions from the judge, including to set aside any bias they may have and to not consider anything outside of what's presented in court — including media coverage of the case — when making their decision.

Police initially arrested Skibicki roughly two years ago, after partial human remains later identified as Contois's were found in a garbage bin near a Winnipeg apartment building in mid-May 2022. The following month, police recovered more of her remains from the Brady Road landfill in south Winnipeg.

Police said their investigation determined the three other women were killed between March and May 2022 — before Contois died. Police said they believe Myran's and Harris's remains are in the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg.

They have said they believe Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe was Indigenous and in her mid-20s, but the location of her remains is unknown.

Pretrial motions in Skibicki's case are expected to continue next week with an application from the Crown to introduce similar-fact evidence in the trial. Those arguments are anticipated to be under a publication ban.