A 24-year-old man accused of killing another inside a home in North Preston over the weekend appeared calm and relaxed as he was brought before a judge yesterday.
Max Demarco Smith did not speak during a very brief appearance in Dartmouth provincial court just before noontime. Dressed in a red and black sport jacket, he leaned back and stretched his arms across the defendant’s bench as he was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 20-year-old Casey Marleen Downey.
Downey’s body was discovered Sunday morning inside a large home on Downey Road after officers responded to a weapons call just before 6:30 a.m.
Police are not saying how he died, or where in the home his body was found.
In the hours that followed, investigators with the RCMP’s major crime unit combed through the modern, three-storey building and interviewed several people who attended a party reportedly held there on Saturday night.
According to RCMP spokeswoman Const. Tamu Bracken, Smith turned himself into police just before noon on Tuesday. He was then questioned, said Bracken, and investigators felt there was “definitely enough evidence” to lay a single charge of second-degree murder.
Smith has one previous conviction on a charge of aggravated assault dating back to January 2008. At the time, he was given a conditional, 18-month sentence and required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and follow a curfew.
No members of either the Smith or Downey families attended yesterday’s court proceedings.
Next appearance
Smith has been remanded to the Burnside jail until his next court appearance, currently scheduled for Monday.
