METRO NEWS
The man accused of killing a gay activist outside a downtown Halifax bar has decided not to fire his lawyer after saying last month that he could no longer trust him.
Andre Noel Denny appeared in Halifax provincial court Tuesday morning and told the court that defence lawyer Don Murray would continue to represent him.
Denny, a 33-year-old from Membertou in Cape Breton, will be back in court for a three-day preliminary inquiry beginning on July 8, more than a year after he allegedly beat Raymond Taavel, 49, to death outside of Menz Bar in April 2012.
He was remanded to the East Coast Forensic Hospital, but the conditions of his remand have changed.
Before he was under assessment, but now the hospital will maintain his fitness, Murray said.
That means Denny will have less restrictions within the facility — restrictions that were “wearing on Mr. Denny,” said Murray.
“No one likes to be penned up or caged, but the restrictions on his liberty will be fewer on the rehabilitation side than they are currently on the assessment side,” Murray said outside the court.
