HALIFAX -- The case against a 27-year-old Halifax man charged with second-degree murder in the death of an off-duty police officer has been adjourned for two months to give lawyers time to review various pieces of evidence.
Christopher Calvin Garnier appeared via video link for the brief hearing in provincial court in Halifax on Wednesday. He sat silently at a meeting table as the judge set the case over until Dec. 15.
Defence lawyer Joel Pink told the court that he has received some material, but requires more time because there is "a lot more coming," particularly forensic evidence.
"We don't have the autopsy report or anything like that at this stage," he said outside court. "So we don't really know much about what allegedly happened."
Garnier is also charged with indecently interfering with a dead body.
When asked how his client was doing, Pink said outside court that he was "in a state of shock about this whole situation. Time will hopefully heal. That's all we can ask."
Crown attorney Paul Carver said outside court that it takes time to gather all the different types of evidence, such as video surveillance, witness statements and forensic test results.
The body of 36-year-old Catherine Campbell was discovered at 12:10 a.m. on Sept. 16 near an overpass that leads to the Macdonald Bridge connecting Halifax and Dartmouth. Garnier was arrested an hour later.
Campbell was reported missing two days earlier when she didn't show up for work at the Truro Police Service.
Halifax Regional Police have said Campbell was last seen at a bar in downtown Halifax early on the morning of Sept. 11 and investigators do not believe her work as a police officer had anything to do with her death.
They have appealed to the public for information about someone wearing a T-shirt and shorts and pushing a green bin in the city's north end at about 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 11.
Campbell served as a volunteer firefighter for 10 years in her hometown of Stellarton. Her family has said she held a variety of jobs in the community before deciding to train as a police officer, finding a job in Truro as soon as she graduated six years ago.
