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Accused in Sweeney killing returns to court Feb. 14

Robert Steven Wright preparing for bail hearing Feb. 19
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The man accused in the 1998 murder of Renee Sweeney made his fourth appearance Thursday in Greater Sudbury court. (File)

The man accused in the 1998 murder of Renee Sweeney made his fourth appearance Thursday in Greater Sudbury court.

Robert Steven Wright, 39, appeared by video from Sudbury Jail, wearing a prison orange jumpsuit and sporting an increasingly bushy beard.

Wright briefly conferred by phone with his lawyer, Berk Keaney. Lawyers have private chats with their clients in video remand court by stepping into a sound-proof booth located to the left side of the courtroom. The client allows the phone to ring three times before they pick it up. 

At that point, the jail guard leaves the room and the live video feed stops until the conversation is complete.

While there is a publication ban in place on the details of what was discussed Thursday, Wright will be back in court Feb. 14 for an update on his bail hearing, which begins Feb. 19.

He was arrested last Dec. 11 and charged with first-desgree murder in Sweeney's killing. She was a 23-year-old Laurentian University Student when she was brutally attacked at her workplace, an adult video store on Paris Street.

She sustained multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries. Wright was an 18-year-old Lockerby Composite School student at the time of the murder.

The case was unsolved for more than two decades, with Greater Sudbury Police Services processing more than 2,000 tips and eliminating more than 1,500 people as suspects over the course of the investigation. Police made numerous public appeals, released crime scence and other relevant photos, and employed new investigation techniques but it wasn't until early November 2018 that they were able to identify a suspect.

Wright was arrested at his workplace in North Bay and charged in connection with the case on Dec. 11.


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Darren MacDonald

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