Judge denies medical examiner, WPS intervener status in Giesbrecht case

The Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba's chief medical examiner will not be permitted to weigh-in on defence lawyer Greg Brodsky's request for a third party to be present during autopsies on the remains of six infants, Judge Brian Corrin ruled Wednesday.

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In arguing for intervener status, David Gisser, lawyer for Manitoba's chief medical examiner, said that provincial court does not have jurisdiction to interfere with autopsies.

Corrin denied requests for intervener status from the WPS and chief medical examiner, saying the Crown can represent the concerns of both parties at the hearing. 

Corrin referred to the few criminal cases where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of intervener status, including the Ontario case of Paul Bernardo, where the families of victims applied for and were granted intervener status to ask for a publication ban on details. 

Andrea Giesbrecht was charged with concealing the bodies of six infants after remains were found in a U-Haul storage facility on Oct. 20. Her lawyer, Greg Brodsky, requested that an independent pathologist sit in on the autopsies, even though those autopsies are 90 per cent complete.

Giesbrecht could face murder charges if the autopsies determine the infants were born alive and Brodsky says autopsy reports have not been provided to him yet.

"We don't have what's been referred to as the liquid that the remains were supposedly found in. We don't have the condition of the human remains as to how old they were from the period of gestation. We don't know if they were ancient, mummified," Brodsky said.

According to Brodsky, if the remains are found to have been less than 20 weeks old, they will not be considered children. 

"That's a big question and something we surely would like to know," Brodsky said, referring to the age of the remains.

A hearing to decide on Brodsky's request for an independent pathologist is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday Nov. 7, 2014 and Giesbrecht's bail hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.