A Calgary judge has ruled the man accused of the high-profile killings of a Calgary mother and her daughter will no longer have to wear restraints during his preliminary inquiry.
Edward Downey is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter Taliyah Marsman.
READ MORE: Man charged with Sara Baillie, Taliyah Marsman murders didn’t pose ‘undue risk’ says parole board
Provincial court judge Gerry Meagher has ruled Downey will no longer have to wear leg shackles during the five-day hearing.
Reasons for the decision are under a publication ban, as is all evidence, along with the identities of all witnesses testifying at the hearing.
Watch below from April 10: The preliminary inquiry for the man accused of killing Taliyah Marsman and her mother Sara Baillie began Monday in Calgary. Nancy Hixt reports.
Baillie was found dead inside her northwest Calgary home July 11, 2016, sparking an Alberta-wide Amber Alert for her daughter.
Police said they believe Taliyah was murdered just hours after Baillie was killed.
Her body was found just outside of the Calgary city limits July 14, 2016.
READ MORE: Taliyah Marsman and Sara Baillie remembered at Calgary vigil
Later that night, Calgary police charged Downey with two counts of murder.
Downey was previously convicted of drug trafficking, weapons and prostitution-related charges and has ties to organized crime, with affiliations to a high-profile Canadian gang that originates in Nova Scotia.
At the end of the hearing, the judge will decide if there is enough evidence to order Downey to stand trial.
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