Accused killer to plead not guilty on 1 charge
CBC News
Posted: Oct 29, 2010 8:29 AM AT
Last Updated: Oct 29, 2010 11:09 AM AT
A P.E.I. man currently in jail for murder in Ontario and facing charges in four other killings will plead not guilty to one of those charges, says his lawyer.
'He's not any kind of green ogre or monster. He's a human being with thoughts and feelings.'— lawyer Kirk Monroe
Summerside native Peter Dale MacDonald is already serving a life sentence for the April 2000 second-degree murder of James Campbell in Toronto. On Thursday, he was charged with the killing of three Toronto sex workers.
Windsor lawyer Kirk Monroe is representing MacDonald on a fourth charge. In January, he was charged in the death of Michelle Charette in Windsor, and Monroe said he will plead not guilty in that case.
"Anybody that's accused of a serious crime is not thrilled. But I mean, he's doing OK, and insists that he's innocent so my instructions are quite clear," said Monroe.
Peter Dale MacDonald was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of a Toronto man. (Toronto Police Service) "He's quite intelligent. He's not any kind of green ogre or monster. He's a human being with thoughts and feelings and can articulate himself well."
It could be months before MacDonald goes to trial on the three latest charges. If he's found guilty, it would put him in the category of serial killer.
The news has left people on P.E.I. who knew MacDonald in shock, even though the convicted killer left the Island in the late 1980s. Ralph MacDonald of Borden-Carleton, no relation, hired Peter Dale MacDonald many years ago to work at his auction company.
"He didn't have the makings of a murderer. When I think of a person that does murders or is a serial killer, they've got to be a rowdy guy, a rough neck, always in trouble with the law," said MacDonald.
"Peter didn't give that message to me, like I say he was a quiet, reserved guy."
MacDonald had been a suspect in the murder of Byron Carr in Charlottetown in 1988, but he was removed from the list of suspects when it was found his DNA did not match what was found at the crime scene.
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