‘I know what I did was wrong’: Pretrial date set in Peterborough Home Depot parking lot shooting

“I know what I did was wrong,” Terry Finn told the judge presiding over his court appearance. “So be it.”

Finn is facing a first-degree murder charge after his wife, 70-year-old Sandra Finn, was shot while sitting in a car parked at The Home Depot on Aug. 22, 2018.

He was arrested shortly thereafter.

Finn has been in custody since his arrest, and has stated multiple times that he wants to plead guilty and move the legal process along as quickly as possible.

During a court appearance Wednesday, Finn fired a lawyer who was on the verge of representing him, when a representative for that lawyer asked for another adjournment. Finn then asked to set a date for a judicial pretrial.

Finn repeated the request Thursday when he appeared before Judge Jennifer Broderick, even rehashing the fallout he had with his would-be defence counsel. Finn told the judge he had tried for weeks to get in touch with his lawyer, but hadn’t heard back from her and wasn’t content to adjourn the case again.

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“I’ll defend myself,” Finn said. “I won’t be very good at it, but I’ll defend myself.”

Finn doesn’t have his disclosure, and asked Broderick if it was important to read it before the pretrial. The judge stressed that it was.

“You need to be aware of the Crown’s case against you,” the judge told the accused.

Finn then asked if he would be put on the stand and asked questions about the allegations.

The judge asked him to stop speaking, stressing that he was on the record in open court.

Broderick told Finn he may have a perspective that differs from the Crown’s, questions or find weaknesses with the evidence against him. She said a pretrial judge would get a sense of how the case might unfold, and asked Finn if he wants to have a preliminary hearing or take the charge directly to Superior Court.

The pretrial will take place behind closed doors.

“It’s intended to be an open and frank discussion and that’s why the public is excluded,” Broderick said.

The pretrial is set to take place Feb. 1 and will take about three hours.