June 15, 2016 - 7:44 PM
SASKATOON - A first-degree murder charge stemming from a woman's death three decades ago has been stayed in a Saskatchewan court.
Dennis Henry Hahn, 66, of Surrey, B.C., was arrested last July and charged in the 1985 slaying of Frances Wendland of Rosthern, Sask.
Prosecutors stayed the charges on Wednesday, saying they did not feel there was a reasonable likelihood of conviction in the case.
Hahn's lawyer, Chris Murphy, said the evidence was "nearly non-existent" and noted that although a stayed charge means the case can be re-activated within a year, he believes the odds of that happening are "next to zero."
Hahn was released from custody in Prince Albert, Sask., and has received a ticket for a bus ride back to B.C.
Police say two masked men broke into Wendland's home and locked her two daughters, aged seven and eight, along with a 10-year-old friend who had been sleeping over, in a basement bathroom.
Kerri Wendland, one of the daughters, told CTV News she's sad about the decision but remains hopeful there will be justice in her mother's case.
“I'm incredibly grateful for the hard work the RCMP put into this case. They're my heroes,” she said.
Court records show Wendland was tied up with packing tape — her neck, chin and mouth tightly bound. When the girls got out of the bathroom, they found Wendland dead in a bedroom.
In 1990, police arrested Donald Marlow and a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for being an accessory to the killing.
Court heard Wendland's estranged husband, Larry, used Marlow to hire two men to kill her.
Larry Wendland married the couple's babysitter a year after the killing, and committed suicide in 1989.
Court heard at Marlow's trial that the Wendlands were swingers and that Larry was worried Frances would used videotapes of their sex life in divorce and custody proceedings.
(CTV Regina, CJWW)
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016