Bosse murder case could face further delays

SASKATOON -There might be another delay in the trial of the man accused of killing Daleen Bosse.

Douglas Hales, who is charged with first-degree murder, is requesting both eye glasses and a laptop before his trial.

His lawyer, Bob Hrycan, said Hales is legally blind and can’t view the evidence against him.

“If he’s not provided with adequate eye wear, it will be the equivalent of putting him in court and placing a blindfold on him,” said Hrycan.

Hales is charged with killing 25-year-old Daleen Bosse and offering an indignity to human remains. In 2008, four years after Bosse went missing, her burnt remains were found about 20 kilometres north of Saskatoon. Hales was arrested shortly after.

Hrycan said if Hales’ requests aren’t met, he’ll ask for a judicial stay of proceedings.

“The prosecution compresses all of the disclosure, all of the information they’re required to give to an accused, they compress it onto a flash drive or USB stick,” said Hrycan.

“He’s been requesting a laptop for well over a year now, and one has been refused him.”

In past trials, a stay of proceedings has been used as a device to postpone proceedings, but Hrycan insists this is not the case.

“If you think that a fair trial is a tactic by a defence council, then I suppose you could characterize a state of proceedings as a tactic here.”

The crown opposes the request for a stay.

“I’ve never seen this before,” said Senior Crown Prosecutor Robin Ritter.

“On those two issues, and the application for a stay because of that, the Crown is opposing those applications. Our concern is that the administration of justice be enhanced, and continue, and the trial take place.”

Hales has dropped a number of lawyers, which has delayed his murder trial. His four-week trail is now set to begin on May 5 of next year.