The man accused of killing and butchering his fiancée was in court Thursday for a hearing concerning his lawyer.
Nicholas Fontanelli, 23, is charged with the first-degree murder of 22-year-old Samantha Higgins.
Crown prosecutor Louis Bouthillier has asked the court to remove defence lawyer Jean-Marc Tremblay from the case, because he has previously represented a key witness at the trial.
Fontanelli's half-sister, Shawna Rose Lazanik, has had previous run-ins with the law herself and had Tremblay as a lawyer.
In court on Thursday Lazanik said she would not be comfortable being cross-examined by Tremblay, and was not willing to waive her right to confidentiality regarding her own previous legal proceedings.
As her lawyer, Tremblay would know facts that would not necessarily have been discussed in court previously, and would have to keep quiet about those events.
The judge in the case said a decision will be rendered on Nov. 19.
July disappearance
Higgins went missing from LaSalle in July, and her body was found several days later in Hinchinbrooke, about 70 km south of Montreal. Police said she the remains were in an advanced state of decomposition and the legs had been severed.
The pair were engaged to be married when she was killed.
She is survived by a four-year-old daughter and a son, now five months old.
Fontanelli has a criminal record of participating in a 2010 robbery, a crime for which he received a suspended sentence and in December 2013 was placed on probation for two years.
During that trial, the then-17-year-old was described as having developmental delays and learning disabilities.
