Neville and Cipriano Sudbury clients charged with murder in Cornwall face drug trafficking allegations

[From the web blog of John Sabin Private Investigator
http://jonsabinprivateinvestigator.blogspot.com/2006/02/alleged-killers-of-jade-and-peter.html]

John Sabin Private Investigator

Sunday, Feb 26 2006

Alleged Killers of Jade and Peter Benedict involved in marijuana smuggling ring

BREAKING NEWS:

Alleged Killers of Jade and Peter Benedict Face New Charges 
Conspiracy to traffic and export marijuana

Two Sudbury men charged with first-degree murder in the Cornwall area have now been implicated in a huge marijuana trafficking ring in this eastern Ontario community.

Michael Boyle, 31, and James Maestrello, 29, have also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder against another man.
Boyle and Maestrello were both charged with murder last summer in the deaths of Jade Benedict, 27, and Peter Benedict, 31, whose bodies were found outside an auto repair shop.

Both deceased lived on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation, a community located across the American border in New York State, just a short drive over the international bridge in Cornwall.

Since being charged with murder, Boyle and Maestrello have remained in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.

On Tuesday, Boyle and Maestrello were charged with attempt to commit murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to traffic and export marijuana.
Last July 16, a man named Andy Paul, 37, was found with numerous gunshot wounds near an abandoned farmhouse in the small community of St. Andrew’s West, just outside Cornwall, a city of 46,000 located between Montreal and Ottawa.

Paul, who resides in Cornwall, was shot several times, but recovered from his wounds.

Roger Belair, 39, of Cornwall, has been charged with attempted murder in relation to Paul’s shooting.

It’s now alleged Boyle and Maestrello conspired with Belair to kill Paul.
A Crown prosecutor in Cornwall told Northern Life Friday the latest set of charges filed against Boyle and Maestrello were filed by a federal Crown prosecutor in Ottawa. That prosecutor could not be reached for comment Friday.

Police allege three other men were involved with Boyle, Maestrello and Belair in a huge marijuana trafficking operation.

Ottawa lawyer Michael Neville is representing Boyle and Maestrello.
Neville could not be reached for comment, but a junior partner in his law firm, Giuseppe Cipriano, said the latest charges against Boyle and Maestrello came as a big surprise.

“We found out only last week about possible new charges and I was certainly surprised about the drug allegations,” said Cipriano, from his Ottawa law office. “There were rumours about the conspiracy to commit murder charges coming…those charges were not as big a surprise as the drug allegations.”

He and Neville have received most of the disclosure in this case and the new allegations about Boyle and Maestrello being involved in a drug trafficking ring only recently surfaced, said Cipriano.

He and Neville are working hard to line up dates for a bail hearing for Boyle and Maestrello, one they hope will take place before the end of March, said Cipriano.

Cipriano said he was scheduled to return to court Friday to attempt to set dates for a bail hearing.

“Because of the serious nature of these charges, a bail hearing has to be held in front of a Superior Court judge…and certain evidence will be called by police,” said Cipriano.

“This is a very serious matter and we need to find appropriate court time to have the bail hearing, but our clients have been in custody for more than six months and they obviously want the bail hearing to be held as quickly as possible.”

If Boyle and Maestrello are denied bail, both are looking at several more months in detention as dates for a preliminary hearing have yet to be set, said Cipriano.

Because of the complexity of the police investigation and serious charges, a murder trial isn’t likely to begin until early 2007, said Cipriano.
posted by Jon Sabin at 9:14 PM