MOOSE JAW — Trial dates have been set for a Moose Jaw man who is accused of attempted murder with a baseball bat after being involved in a two-vehicle collision.
Ryan Milne, 41, appeared by video in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on March 6, where Judge David Chow announced that the accused’s trial would occur from April 28 to 30 since those dates fit the defence counsel’s schedule.
The judge then asked the Crown prosecutor whether her office had considered asking for a case management conference (CMC) to narrow down the triable issues considering the defence lawyer had only recently acquired the file.
Crown prosecutor Monique Paquin replied that no such meeting had been held yet, while it appeared that there was very little time to hold a CMC between now and the trial. Moreover, holding that meeting was subject to her senior colleague’s schedule since he would be prosecuting the case. Yet, she agreed that it was a good idea to schedule a CMC.
“Yes, I am definitely in support of that,” agreed defence lawyer Ola Ben-Ajayi.
Judge Chow then scheduled the hour-long case management conference for Monday, April 7, starting at 2:30 p.m. He also ordered that Milne appear in person for that meeting, while he remanded him back into custody until then.
According to previous information, police charged Milne with three counts of attempted murder following a motor vehicle collision on the east side of the city.
On May 30, 2024, around 6:15 p.m., the police service responded to an incident at the intersection of Thatcher Drive East and Highway 1. Once on scene, officers noticed significant damage to both pick-up trucks involved in the incident.
Through their investigation, they determined that one of the pick-up trucks was travelling at a high rate of speed and intentionally rear-ended the other pick-up truck, which had three occupants in it.
“Following the collision, the male assaulted the driver of the other vehicle with a baseball bat,” the police said. “Police also discovered that the accused and the three victims were known to one another.”
EMS later transported the three victims to the hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries.
A bail hearing was held for Milne on June 11, 2024, where Judge Brian Hendrickson chose not to release the accused because he thought the Crown had made a strong argument against that action and that Milne’s defence lawyer had not demonstrated sufficiently that he should be granted bail.