Tag Archives: Police

First draft done; 2nd Twitchell charge dropped

MELBOURNE — With my first draft of the book on the Mark Twitchell case completed this week, I wanted to revisit a legal decision that had a major impact before and after the first-degree murder trial.

Back in mid-June, about two months after Mark Twitchell was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Johnny Altinger, the Crown stayed an attempted murder charge related to his first alleged victim.

This decision to drop the second charge may seem odd to those who have followed the case closely. Detectives were adamant they had gathered a mountain of evidence — much of it revealed during the murder trial while even Twitchell himself admitted on the witness stand to committing the attack.

So why abandon it? The reasons can actually be found within the various pre-trial motions that set a path through the legal system that was pretty hard to change once it was decided upon.

In preparing the case for trial, the Crown had argued in court for both the attempted murder and first-degree murder charges be heard simultaneously as they were part of the same “transaction” of allegedly becoming a “serial killer.”

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Her Majesty The Queen v. Mark Andrew Twitchell

EDMONTON — We’re likely weeks away from the start of the Mark Twitchell criminal trial, which will be the focus of my forthcoming book.

The independent filmmaker is facing first-degree murder and attempted murder charges. Twitchell’s murder trial related to the disappearance of Johnny Altinger is currently scheduled to begin in mid-March.

The case against him includes unheard-of police allegations and other matters that are tied to pop-culture: Facebook, Star Wars, online dating, the Internet, celebrity and Dexter, the fictional serial killer from the Showtime television series and Jeff Lindsay novels.

My true crime book will examine this case and the people connected to it. The book is tentatively scheduled for release across North America in 2012 by publisher McClelland and Stewart.

I am still conducting my research so anyone with information can contact me in the following ways:

Phone:
780.802.3835

E-mail:
steve [at] stevelillebuen.com

Mail:
PO Box 403
Stn. Main
Edmonton, AB
T5J 2J6

Anonymity is guaranteed.

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