Murder charges were all but dismissed on Monday against a third man charged in connection to an alleged gang killing in the Inglewood neighbourhood of Red Deer in 2009.
Red Deer resident Christopher Ryan McIvor, 21, appeared briefly in custody in Red Deer provincial court — as his lawyer Alain Hepner asked the judge to essentially have first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges against his client dropped.
This was granted by Justice Jim Foster.
Hepner said he was directed by the Crown prosecutor in the case to request a stay in proceedings.
It often happens if there’s no likelihood of conviction, for any number of reasons.
While the charges against McIvor could be reinstated within a year if circumstances change or new information comes to light, this is rare.
McIvor is the third suspect charged in the drive-by shooting death of Brandon Neil Prevey, 29, to have his charges stayed.
Pedro Julio Saenz, 22, and Brandon Cody Smith, 23, both of Calgary, had their first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges stayed in March.
A fourth accused, Christopher Martin Fleig, 26, of Red Deer, is still expected to have his hearing on May 30.
Fleig was the first person arrested following an intensive RCMP investigation and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Prevey, of Edmonton, was gunned down while sitting in a car after attending a house party on Ibbotson Close in the spring of 2009.
He was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, with a woman next to him, when a black Pontiac Pursuit with two men in it pulled up sometime around 3 a.m. Someone from inside the Pontiac fired shots, striking Prevey several times. The woman wasn’t hit.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com