Lawyers representing CBC and many of Canada's other major media outlets are in Hamilton court Tuesday challenging a judicial order barring the public from pretrial motions of the men accused of killing Ancaster's Tim Bosma.
And even parts of that hearing have been pushed behind closed doors.
Dellen Millard, 29, and Mark Smich, 27, are accused of first degree murder in the death.
It is Millard's lawyer, Javid Mirza, arguing for barring the public from the hearing. He says it's a matter of solicitor-client privilege.
"Freedom of the press is necessary in a free and democratic society, but it does have some limits," Mirza said in court Tuesday.
Just after 11:15, Justice Stephen Glithero barred the public from the courtroom so he could hear Mirza's submissions as to why the pre trial motions should be in private.
"This is a difficult situation," Glithero said.
Smich's lawyer Thomas Dungey told the court he is "neutral" about the hearings being held behind closed doors, while deputy crown attorney Tony Leitch argued they should be open but under a publication ban when necessary.
"There is no justification for an in-camera order," Leitch said. "The press should have access, as should any member of the public."
Lawyer Iain MacKinnon is representing CBC, Postmedia, CTV and Sun Media, and told CBC Hamilton that this kind of ban happens very rarely.
"It's a pretty extraordinary move to make," MacKinnon said.
Pretrial motions are usually conducted in public, but are subject to a publication ban, meaning media can attend, but can't report on what they hear.
But back in February, Justice Glithero said that three days of pretrial motions would be in-camera, with neither the media nor members of the public allowed in the courtroom.
The reasons why that happened are still largely unclear to the public, MacKinnon said. "We're still totally in the dark here," he said. It may be an issue related to lawyer and client privileges, he added.
MacKinnon anticipated that the defense would again ask for the courtroom to be sealed again on Tuesday, MacKinnon said, meaning the public would be barred once again – this time from hearing arguments on the previous ban.
Dellen Millard, (pictured here) and Mark Smich, are accused of first degree murder in the death of Tim Bosma of Ancaster. (Facebook)
"We're going to fight hard against that," he said.
Both Millard and Smich were present in court Tuesday morning.
Millard wore a grey suit jacket and jeans, and appeared with long, shoulder length hair and a moustache. He appears much skinnier than he has at previous times in court.
At one point Millard turned around to survey the courtroom, looking intently at Hamilton Police Det. Sgt. Matt Kavanagh, who is handling the Bosma case.
Smich sat in the prisoners box starting straight ahead for the proceedings. He appeared clean shaven with close cropped hair and wearing a green polo shirt.
Millard and Smich were also in court last February when the courtroom was closed.
Bosma was last seen on May 6, 2013 when he left to take two men for a test drive in a truck he was trying to sell online. Bosma's charred remains were found on Millard's Waterloo farm.
Pretrial motions in the case are set to continue at 10 a.m. on April 30 and again on May 1.
Millard, who comes from an aviation family, is also charged in the first-degree murder in the death of his father, Wayne Millard. The elder Millard died in November 2012 and his death was initially ruled a suicide.
Millard and Smich are also charged in the death of 23-year-old Laura Babcock, who went missing in the summer of 2012.
Christina Noudga, 22, of Toronto has also been charged with being accessory after the fact in connection to Bosma's death.
Millard, Smich and Noudga are all headed straight to trial, skipping a preliminary hearing. The trial for Millard and Smich is expected to begin in January 2016.
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