Accused killer Kirk Keeping loses final appeal for taxpayer-funded lawyer, clearing way for trial

Accused murderer Kirk Keeping will not be getting a private lawyer funded by Newfoundland and Labrador's taxpayers, after the country's top court declined to hear his appeal.

Keeping is accused of killing Chantel John, a 28-year-old Mi'kmaw woman,at MiawpukekFirst Nation in Conne River in January 2019.

Nearly four years later, Keeping has yet to stand trial for first-degree murder.

He was slated for a trial in May 2021, but it was delayed when Keeping fired his lawyers,Derek Ford and the late Derek Hogan, the day before jury selection was supposedto begin.

"I am charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder and facing life in jail," Keeping told Justice Glen Noel at the time. "My lawyers have spent two or three hours with me in 28 months."

Hogan disputed those commentsand told the judge he'd found out only 15 minutes before the court appearance that Keeping intended to fire him. Hogan, considered one of the top trial lawyers in the province, and Ford were senior lawyers with the Newfoundland and Labrador Legal Aid Commission.

The trial was delayed until May 2022. In the meantime, Keeping applied for funding from the province to hire private counsel.

When it was denied, he appealed to the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal and his trial had to be postponed again.

The appeal was denied, for reasons thatare covered by a court-ordered publication ban on pre-trial evidence, and his trial was rescheduled for April 2023.

However, Keeping then asked the Supreme Court of Canada to examine his case, resulting in yet another delay. The country's top court announced Thursday that it had dismissed Keeping's application.

His trial is currently slated for next April and Keeping now is all out of appeals. He'll be forced to accept a legal aid lawyer, pay his own costs, or represent himself if the court will allow it.

Keeping has remained in custody since his arrest in 2019.

When delays are caused by the accused in a criminal matter, the time does not count toward what is called the Jordan rule, which states a case must go to trial within 30 months or the charges are stayed.

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