A dangerous offender hearing for admitted child abductor Randall Hopley has been delayed once more pending a psychiatric evaluation.
In Cranbrook Supreme Court on Monday, April 8, defence counsel William Thorne asked Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon to adjourn the case until June 17.
Thorne told Justice Fenlon that he is seeking a psychiatrist to perform an expert evaluation of Randall Hopley prior to a dangerous offender hearing.
During a sentencing hearing last July, Crown prosecutor Lynal Doerksen requested that Hopley be declared a dangerous offender. The Crown has retained a psychiatrist who has performed an expert evaluation of Hopley; however defence counsel is seeking a second expert opinion.
Hopley has pleaded guilty to abduction of a child under 14 and break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence in connection to the September 7, 2011 abduction of three-year-old Kienan Hebert from the boy's home in Sparwood. Kienan was returned to the home unharmed four days later. On September 13, a police sniffer dog tracked Hopley to a gravel pit in Crowsnest Lake, Alberta. Hopley has remained in custody ever since.