A five-week jury trial beginning May 25 has been confirmed for the man police allege brutally murdered Renée Sweeeny in 1998.
The second-degree murder trial for Robert Steven Wright will begin May 25, and will continue the weeks of May 31, June 7, June 14 and June 21. It still remains unknown at this time whether the trial will be held in Sudbury, despite Wright’s motion for a change of venue being denied earlier this year.
The dates were confirmed Nov. 17 in assignment court.
Furthermore, the Crown and Wright’s defence team have scheduled dates of Feb. 1-5 for a disclosure application, as well as April 6 and April 19 for pretrial motions.
On Feb. 25, both parties will discuss a Crown motion to have expert witnesses not residing in this jurisdiction to testify via video link during the trial.
Dec. 11 will mark two years since Wright was arrested while working as a medical laboratory technician at a hospital in North Bay.
He was charged with first-degree murder, but that has since been downgraded to second-degree murder.
On Jan. 27, 1998, Sweeney, 23, was brutally attacked at her workplace, a video store on Paris Street, where she sustained multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries.
Wright was 18 years old at the time of Sweeney's murder and was a resident of Sudbury and a student at Lockerby Composite School.
