Murder charges were all but dismissed on Thursday against two men charged in an alleged gang killing in Red Deer in the spring of 2009.
Pedro Julio Saenz, 22, and Brandon Cody Smith, 23, both of Calgary, had their first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges stayed following a preliminary hearing in Red Deer provincial court.
A stay of proceedings may be permanent or temporary, but it’s rare that the charges come back. Both Saenz and Smith have been in custody since their arrest last June and are expected to be released.
Both men were charged in the April 5, 2009, drive-by shooting of Brandon Neil Prevey, 29, of Edmonton who was gunned down while sitting in a vehicle on an Inglewood street in Red Deer.
Police said earlier that the shooting was believed to be gang-related.
There was a ban on information ordered by the court.
Meanwhile, Christopher Ryan McIvor, 21, of Red Deer, who is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, was committed to stand trial in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench by provincial court Judge Jim Mitchell.
The preliminary hearing, which was set for two days, wrapped up in an afternoon.
Preliminary hearings are held to determine if there’s enough evidence to warrant the accused stand trial in Queen’s Bench.
McIvor was held in custody to appear on May 2 in Queen’s Bench to possibly set a judge and jury trial date.
A fourth accused — Christopher Martin Fleig, 26, of Red Deer, will have his hearing on May 30.
Fleig, who remains in custody, was the first person arrested following an intensive RCMP investigation. Fleig is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
The charge against Fleig was laid about a year after the shooting.
Only three witnesses testified on Thursday but wiretap evidence, which is expected to play a role in the Crown’s case, wasn’t introduced.
Prevey was shot to death while sitting in a vehicle after attending a house party on Ibbotson Close.
Prevey was in the driver’s seat of a Jeep with a woman next to him when a black Pontiac Pursuit with two men in it pulled up sometime around 3 a.m. Someone inside the car began firing shots, striking Prevey several times. The woman wasn’t hit.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com