Court deals with pre-trial motions in Jeffrey case

The case of Mark King Jeffrey, a man accused of killing a 13-year-old Iqaluit girl more than three years ago, will be before the courts in Iqaluit for the next four weeks, but it will be several months before an actual trial begins.

Lawyers are expected to spend most of that time dealing with pre-trial issues related to the admissibility of various pieces of evidence.

Crown lawyer Susanne Boucher was expected to give an opening statement to the trial judge on Wednesday morning, but Boucher did not appear due to sickness, and the case was adjourned until Thursday, after this week’s press deadline for Nunatsiaq News.

Over the next four weeks, she is expected to call on more than 20 witnesses during consideration of various pre-trial motions.

The trial proper – the hearing of evidence before a jury – is not expected to begin for several months.

Jeffrey, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jennifer Naglingiq, 13, whose body was found in the first few minutes after midnight on Dec. 6, 2002, at house 2230-B in Iqaluit.

The news of Naglingniq’s death on December 6, 2002 overshadowed a vigil held at Inuksuk High School to mark the 13th anniversary of the 1989 Montreal massacre.