Trial date set for man charged with ammonite theft
By Herald on November 16, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com
A 27-year-old man accused of stealing a valuable ammonite fossil last year is finally going to trial, but not for another five months.
Logan Cash Heavyshields will stand trial April 15-16, 2021, nearly two years after he was arrested and charged in July 2019.
The trial date was confirmed Friday in Lethbridge provincial court, where an agent for the accused’s lawyer briefly addressed the matter. Heavyshields, who was previously released on bail, was not required to attend court.
The Crown and defence had hoped to resolve the charges against Heavyshields, who pleaded not guilty in January to charges of theft over $5,000 and entering land without permission. Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan told court in August he decided to have his client stand trial despite receiving a resolution offer from the Crown. He also elected trial by a provincial court judge.
Heavyshields’ charges stem from an incident on July 16, 2019, when a man was seen stealing an ammonite fossil from a mine south of Lethbridge. Mine employees saw the man put the $7,000 fossil in a bag and then run to a waiting vehicle. The suspects got away, but were eventually captured, despite the driver’s attempt to disguise his truck by painting it.
The driver pleaded guilty in February to several charges, including one count of theft over $5,000. He was handed a one-year conditional sentence and placed on house arrest for six months, followed by six months of curfew.
Heavyshields was only recently released from custody after serving a short jail sentence on unrelated charges of assault and uttering threats, to which he pleaded guilty on Nov. 4.
Heavyshields was at his mother’s home last February and arguing with his sister, when he head-butted her in the face. Another time he was at his sister’s home and, in a drunken state, threatened to hurt her.
Then on May 13, while Heavyshields and a woman were arguing, a third woman got involved. Heavyshields grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the ground and kicked her in the face.
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