NEWS FILE PHOTO/COURTESY OF APTN
Connie Oakes, who was found guilty of the 2011 second-degree murder of city resident Casey Armstrong, during a jailhouse interview with APTN conducted last fall.
Oakes has reportedly been charged after an alleged stabbing near Maple Creek on April 5. A bail hearing has been set for April 19
@SeanMCNews smcintosh@maplecreeknews.com
A woman once convicted of second-degree murder in Medicine Hat who successfully appealed her conviction and was set free one year ago has reportedly been charged after an alleged stabbing in Saskatchewan.
Oakes, along with Rick Rock Thunder of Nekaneet First Nation, are facing aggravated assault and forcible confinement charges after an incident in Maple Creek on April 5.
RCMP say a potential stabbing victim was brought to hospital in the early evening. After speaking with the individual, police arrested Oakes and
Thunder.
Oakes and Wendy Scott had been charged in 2012 after Casey Armstrong was found dead in his home onĀ Southview Drive in Medicine Hat over the Victoria Day long weekend in 2011.
After a two-week trial in November 2013, Oakes was convicted of second-degree murder. This conviction was successfully appealed early this year and Oakes was set free on April 28, 2016, after Scott, the sole witness to the crime, was deemed to be unreliable due to her testimony’s inconsistency and low cognitive abilities.
Scott had a second-degree murder conviction entered against her and was sentenced in November 2012 to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 10 years. However, that conviction was quashed by the Alberta Court of Appeal in October 2015, and a retrial ordered. A stay of proceedings granted Jan. 13, 2017, by a Court of Queen’s Bench justice in Medicine Hat.
Oakes and Thunder were scheduled to appear in Swift Current Provincial Court on the morning of April 7.
More to come.