Following pretrial motions on Monday, trial dates for the man accused of murdering Renée Sweeney have been rescheduled for February 2023.
Robert Steven Wright was scheduled to go to trial in September this year. His counsel, Micheal Lacy, told Sudbury.com in an email the reason for the delay.
“I can confirm the trial had to be adjourned in order to accommodate my schedule,” Lacy said in an email.
Lacy said when September was originally targeted to start Wright’s trial, it was done so with knowledge that Lacy had a lengthy matter scheduled in another jurisdiction.
“There was some hope that the other matter might not go ahead, but, unfortunately, as of Monday it is still scheduled,” said Lacy. “Accordingly, we had to adjourn the Wright matter.”
The matter will return April 25 to confirm dates.
Wright is charged with second-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of Sweeney. He has been in custody since he was arrested in December 2018.
Wright was scheduled to start his second-degree murder trial in May of last year, but it was delayed due to concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was then scheduled to start in October, but it was postponed when Wright hired a new lawyer, Lacy, who needed time to catch up on the case.
His former counsel, Berk Keaney, declared a conflict of interest in the case, leading to the search for new counsel.
Wright then contracted COVID-19 during the outbreak at the Sudbury Jail. He was hospitalized as a result.
Wright has been denied bail four times since he was first arrested. His latest attempt happened in March.
