Preliminary hearing begins for 5 accused of murdering Moncton teen - Action News
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New Brunswick

Preliminary hearing begins for 5 accused of murdering Moncton teen

A preliminary hearing started Monday for five people accused of killing 18-year-oldJoedin Leger in Moncton last year.

5 men face first-degree murder charge, a sixth person to be tried in youth court

Two police officers shown outside a duplex door setting up a large blue tent. Yellow crime scene tape surrounds the area.
Police set up a tent outside a duplex in Moncton last April 25 while they investigated the fatal shooting. (Pascal Raiche-Nogue/Radio-Canada)

A preliminary hearing is underway for five people accused of killing an 18-year-oldin Moncton last year.

Riley Phillips, 19, HaydenLeBlanc, 19, Hunter England, 20, Jerek England, 24, and Nicholas McAvoy, 24,are jointly charged with first-degree murder.

They're accused of killing JoedinLloyd Legeron April 25, 2022.

The hearing that began Monday is expected to last 14 days, spread out over various dates until June. It'sheld for a judge to consider whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

A young boy with his chin in his hand wearing a baseball-style hat looks.
Joedin Leger was 18 when he was shot at a house on Logan Lane. (Albert County Funeral Home)

None of the testimony or evidence presented in the hearing can be reported because of a publication ban issued byJudge Ronald LeBlanc.

A total of six people are charged with first-degree murder, a homicide that's planned and deliberate.

Thesixth personwas under 18 at the time of the alleged crime and his case is proceeding separately in youth court. He cannot be named.

Early morning shooting

RCMP have previously said police were called around 6:10 a.m. on April 25 about shots being fired at a Logan Lane duplex in Moncton's north end neighbourhood.

Legerhad been shot and was taken to hospital, where he later died. RCMP said another person was inside the home but wasn't injured.

Police said they determined a car had pulled up to the home and four people got out and approached the house.Several shots were fired before the four got back into a vehicle and fled the area, police said in a news release last year.

Four of the five who are jointly charged sat side-by-side in the prisoner'sbox on Monday, occasionally talking to each other, laughing or exchanging looks with people in the public gallery. Jerek England, the only one of the five who was out on bail, sat in the public gallery.

The accused are under a court order not to communicate with each other, but the order was lifted for the preliminary because they're sitting next to each other.

About 25 people were seated on the side of the courtroom behind the defence lawyers, while only a handful of people sat in the rows behind RCMP investigators and Crown prosecutors.

The co-accused are each represented by different lawyers, requiring more seating than is typical.