Col. Russell Williams, seen in a file photo, is scheduled to appear in a Belleville court Thursday via video.Col. Russell Williams, seen in a file photo, is scheduled to appear in a Belleville court Thursday via video. (Canadian Press/Department of National Defence)

Col. Russell Williams, who is facing two first-degree murder charges and two sexual assault charges, will be represented by Michael Edelson, a prominent Ottawa-based defence lawyer.

Edelson is also representing Bishop Raymond Lahey, who is facing charges of possessing and importing child pornography, and he represented Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien when he was cleared of influence peddling charges last summer.

Williams, 46, is being held at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ont., and is scheduled to appear in a Belleville court Thursday via video.

The former base commander of CFB Trenton is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38.

He has also been charged in the case of two sexual assaults that happened in Tweed in September.