Going to trial can take a long time and the jury selection process can also take weeks.
Jury selection is now underway in the in the trial of thirty-one-year old Joseph Michael Pollard of Webbwood who is charged with first-degree murder.
Pollard was charged with first-degree murder in a fatal house fire in April 2017 and a preliminary hearing was held last year.
Jury selection in his Superior Court trial started in November.
Pre-trial motions in the case will be dealt with starting June 24.
Pollard also faces charges of causing an indignity to human remains and arson causing damage to a residence at Agnew Lake Road.
The victim has been identified as of Alicia Armstrong of Webbwood.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, members of the Espanola detachment and the Sables/Spanish Rivers Fire Department responded to a fire at the Webbwood residence about 8:30 am April 3rd, 2017.
Once the fire was extinguished, a person was found dead inside the home, police said.
Pollard’s first-degree murder charge, which was read out in court at the start of the preliminary hearing, named Alicia Armstrong as the homicide victim.
The Espanola OPP and the North Regional Crime Unit, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, conducted the investigation, with help from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office.
