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Jury selection moves quickly on Day 1 of Wright murder trial

Accused Robert Steven Wright was somber and stoic as he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder
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The provincial courthouse in Sudbury. Sudbury, court, courthouse, provincial court.

On day one of perhaps the most anticipated murder trial in the history of Greater Sudbury, Robert Steven Wright stood before Superior Court Justice Robbie D. Gordon and pleaded not guilty to killing a 23-year-old Laurentian University student in 1998. 

Today marked the beginning of what is expected to be a six-week trial in which the Crown will seek to prove Wright is the person who stabbed Renée Sweeney to death on Jan. 27, 1998, at her workplace, an adult video store on Paris Street.

Sweeney suffered more than 30 stab wounds. 

Wright was an 18-year-old high school student in 1998 who lived at home with his parents in Val Caron, but attended a high school a short walk from the plaza at 1500 Paris Street.**

Now 43 years old, he has been in custody since his arrest more than four years ago. He has been denied bail three times.

Upon his arrest, Wright was charged with first-degree murder, however, that has since been downgraded to second degree and the trial has been postponed several times

Second degree murder is a deliberate killing that occurs without planning. It carries a minimum sentence is life with no parole for 10 years. 

In the courthouse, among the potential jurors sat family members of both the Sweeney family, and the parents of Wright, who sat directly behind him. 

Represented by well-known defense attorney, Michael Lacy, Wright was somber and stoic in the courtroom, wearing a wine-coloured shirt and black dress pants. Now with his head shaved and gray in his beard, the accused appeared far different from the teenager he was in 1998, when the murder occurred, but also since he was arrested in 2018. 

Stiff-shouldered, he sat at the defense counsel table and barely moved but to rise for the judge, and to make eye contact with each of the 12 jury members (six men, six women) and two alternates (two women) as they were affirmed to the trial.

Two jurors visibly winced when they made initial eye contact with Wright, as they were instructed to do while pledging to honour the role they were undertaking.

Jury selection went swiftly today.

The case is well-known in Sudbury and much of the questioning done by Gordon centred on the potential jurors' awareness of the trial, given the media attention the case has received over the past 25 years and the fact Greater Sudbury is a fairly small city.

It is expected that 48 witnesses will testify over the anticipated six weeks of the trial.

Gordon also spoke to the need to avoid media reports and discussions of the case to each affirmed juror, saying he hoped his instructions to this effect were “abundantly clear.”

Though the latter half of Tuesday and all day Wednesday had been set aside for jury selection, it was not needed. Those jury members who arrived Tuesday afternoon were asked to return Feb. 23. They will be dismissed if all jurors that were selected Tuesday morning, those that make up the 12 (with two alternates) arrive to make up the jury. 

The trial officially gets underway on Feb. 23 at 10:00 a.m. 

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter at Sudbury.com.

**Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Robert Steven Wright lived with his parents within walking distance of the murder scene.



Jenny Lamothe

About the Author: Jenny Lamothe

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized.
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