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Jury selection underway in fitness hearing for accused Fredericton shooter

He was accused of killing four people in a shooting spree in Fredericton in August 2018
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Matthew Vincent Raymond, charged with four counts of first degree murder, is taken from provincial court in Fredericton, N.B., on December 11, 2018. Jury selection begins Monday at a hockey rink in Fredericton to determine if Matthew Raymond, accused of killing four people in a shooting spree in August 2018, is fit to stand trial. Earlier this month, Justice Fred Ferguson of the Court of Queen’s Bench ruled the threshold to question the fitness of the accused had been met. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Jury selection has begun in the hearing to determine if Matthew Raymond — accused of killing four people in a shooting spree in Fredericton in August 2018 — is fit to stand trial.

Justice Fred Ferguson of the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench ruled earlier this month that the threshold to question fitness of the accused had been met.

Fitness means that an accused understands the charges against them and can instruct a lawyer on how they wish to be defended.

Jury selection for Raymond’s fitness hearing is being held in a hockey arena because of the large number of potential jurors.

Hundreds of people lined up outside the venue Monday morning, waiting to pass through security and be registered.

A makeshift courtroom has been set up in the rink, with a desk and chair for the judge on a raised platform at what would normally be centre ice.

Raymond is charged with the first-degree murders of Fredericton police constables Sara Burns and Robb Costello and civilians Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright.

Robichaud and Wright were killed in the parking lot outside their apartment building, and the officers were killed when they responded to the shootings.

Raymond wore orange pants and an orange shirt and appeared unshaven as he was led into a separate pre-trial hearing with the judge and lawyers Monday morning.

That hearing to discuss pre-trial issues was held in a dressing room, normally used by members of the Fredericton Red Wings of the Maritime Hockey League.

A publication ban was placed on anything said at that proceeding.

READ MORE: Matthew Vincent Raymond, 48, charged in Fredericton shooting

READ MORE: Gun used in Fredericton killings is legal, man had licence

READ MORE: Crown asks for assessment after alleged Fredericton gunman claims ‘temporary insanity’

The Canadian Press


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