Overview
- Judge Jean-Louis Lemay set Sept. 25 for the plea hearing after the court declined to record it this week.
- Prosecutors said Martin Charest signalled his intention to plead guilty through his lawyer, with audio issues cited for the delay.
- Charest appeared by videoconference from the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines institution alongside his lawyer, Sonia Bogdaniec.
- He is charged with first-degree murder in connection with a May 2024 attack on Robert Pickton at the Port-Cartier maximum-security prison, after which Pickton died in hospital nearly two weeks later.
- The Crown’s account alleges Charest used a broken broom handle in the assault; Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder.