RCMP cordon off a crime scene using police tapJOHN LEHMANN
The tangle of charges facing a Toronto man accused of being a serial killer inched toward resolution Wednesday morning, with two days earmarked to iron out scheduling difficulties.
Mark Moore, 29, has been committed to trial on four counts of first degree-murder in the shooting deaths of four men, all slain in the fall of 2010.
The men were aged from 18 to 45 and Mr. Moore didn't know three of them, homicide detectives have said, describing the slayings as exceptionally callous.
Separately, meanwhile, Mr. Moore and a former friend named Kevin Williams, 32, a rap artist, are charged in the violent robbery of a jewellery store in upscale Leaside, in August of 2010.
And further complicating the court calendar, Mr. Moore was earlier this month charged with aggravated assault, accused of attacking his co-accused, Mr. Williams, who sustained facial injuries in a beating inside a holding cell at a downtown courthouse.
Friday will see a meeting between prosecutors and lawyers for Mark Moore and Mr. Williams, to block off time for pre-trial motions to be heard in the robbery charges.
On May 22, Mr. Moore will appear by video link at Old City hall for a hearing on the assault.
And then on May 30, a judicial pretrial meeting will schedule court time for legal arguments in the four homicides, which are not expected to reach trial until early 2015.
Neatly dressed in a dark suit jacket, white shirt and wire-rimmed glasses, Mr. Moore appeared alert and at ease during his short court appearance Wednesday.
"Now that the matters have reached 361 University (Superior Court) Mr. Moore is anxious to have his trial date set," his lawyer Cheryl Robb said outside court.
As for the stress of facing so many serious charges, "he is fine, he is looking forward to his trial," she said.