Murder suspect’s lawyer can’t reach him
Defence counsel says he’s been unable to communicate with his client - murder suspect Devon Mark Hill Hood, 26 - because he’s been unreachable at Quebec prison
A Fredericton man accused of murder along with three others who’s back in federal prison for a parole violation was lost in a correctional limbo and has been unreachable, says his lawyer.
Devon Mark Hill Hood, 26, was scheduled to appear in Fredericton provincial court Thursday to schedule a preliminary inquiry on a first-degree murder charge.
Hood is jointly charged with Matthew David LeBlanc, 29, also of Fredericton, in the Jan. 28, 2022, death of Brandon Patrick Donelan, 27, of Minto.
LeBlanc appeared in person in custody for Thursday’s proceedings with lawyer Pierrette Allain, an agent for defence counsel Gilles Lemieux, but lawyer Brian Munro, who’s representing Hood, said while he’d requested that his client be present as well, he was informed he hadn’t been transported to court.
Munro asked for an additional adjournment, noting he’s had no contact with Hood.
He said he’s learned Hood - who was detained this summer on a parole violation for a sentence on an unrelated matter - is incarcerated and had been transferred to a Quebec institution.
Munro said he needs Hood to be brought to court in person because he’s been unable to connect with him, as efforts to arrange a telephone conversation through the federal institution in Quebec have proven futile.
“I haven’t even had a chance to properly communicate with him,” he said of his client.
During Thursday’s proceeding on the murder charge, the court had trouble connecting with the prison as well.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc granted Munro’s adjournment request, setting the matter over to Dec. 1, and she ordered that Hood be brought to court in person at that time.
Also charged with first-degree murder in a separate prosecution are Erica Lea Ann Blyth, 40, of Wasson Road in Newcastle Creek, and Joshua John McIsaac, 33, formerly of Penniac.
The Crown filed a preferred indictment in that case, meaning the prosecution skipped the preliminary inquiry phase.
Blyth and McIsaac’s jury trial on the Donelan murder is scheduled to begin April 23, 2025, and is set to run for six weeks.
‘We’re trying to find him’
Hood was also set to answer to other charges in Fredericton provincial court Thursday.
He and Blyth are jointly charged with possessing crystal meth, cocaine and hydromorphone (Dilaudid) for the purpose of trafficking on June 21.
The pair also faces related joint charges of possessing a loaded, prohibited firearm (a sawed-off shotgun) without a licence or authorization; possessing unloaded prohibited firearms (two other sawed-off shotguns) with readily accessible ammunition; possessing the sawed-off shotguns, another shotgun and three rifles for a purpose dangerous to the public peace; possessing non-restricted firearms without a licence; and storing those seven firearms improperly.
Furthermore, Hood is accused of violating a court-ordered prohibition against possessing firearms June 21 as well.
Munro noted he hasn’t been retained on those charges, but he remained in court Thursday for that case as a friend of the court. It’s expected he will likely be granted a legal-aid certificate to represent Hood on that file as well.
Blyth appeared in court by telephone from the provincial women’s jail in Miramichi, but still the court had trouble arranging for Hood to appear.
Jillian Jordan, the federal prosecutor on the drug charges, said her office had arranged for a video-conference appearance for Hood.
When the court connected with the Quebec prison by video Thursday morning, a female official with Correctional Service Canada appeared but Hood wasn’t present.
“We’re trying to find him,” the unidentified woman said.
Officials were aware of the scheduled video appearance, she said, but around the same time, the inmate had been called to another department.
“We just had a security incident as well,” she said.
After a few minutes, Hood was brought to the video-conference room.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc noted Hood remains unrepresented on the drug and firearms charges.
“I sent in legal aid paperwork,” Hood said.
“We’re going to sort all that out,” Munro said.
Blyth has counsel on all charges - Fredericton defence lawyer T.J. Burke. Emily Cochrane, a lawyer with his firm, appeared as an agent for Burke on Thursday.
She said as was the case during the previous court appearance on the drug and firearms charges, Blyth was ready to elect mode of trial.
Because Blyth and Hood are charged jointly, his lack of representation was causing delays in the case.
Cochrane pointed out her client was ready to proceed in case excessive delays become an issue later in the case.
The judge set the June 21 charges over to Dec. 1 as well, and she ordered that Hood and Matthew LeBlanc were to be brought to court in person.
Cochrane said having her client appear by phone would be acceptable.
The various charges before the court arose in the wake of RCMP officers executing a search warrant at Blyth’s home in Newcastle Creek on June 21. Blyth and Hood were arrested at that location. She was charged shortly thereafter with the Donelan murder, while Hood was returned to Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick on a parole violation.
The additional murder, drug and firearms charges were laid in court later on.
Donelan was reported as missing to the RCMP Jan. 30, 2022, and that led to an extensive ground search in the Chipman area. Police also arranged for a search effort from the air as well, but those searches didn’t yield any results.
The members of the RCMP’s major crime unit found his body a couple of months later along a snowmobile trail in the Grand Lake area March 31, 2022.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
What kind of ridiculous security is this!!!! We're talking about an alleged murderer, not a jay walker.