The NDP’s failure to cut through the court backlog has resulted in an accused murderer being set loose while his case languishes in the justice system.

David Knot, 25, was charged in connection with a gang war on the Garden Hill First Nation that left an 18-year-old dead and three others seriously wounded on Feb. 14, 2007.

Due to an over-worked, under-resourced court system, the next available date for a preliminary hearing is September 2008 – 19 months after the crime occurred.

Even though Justice Albert Clearwater said “the violence was extreme” in the matter and Knot has a criminal record for breaching court-imposed release conditions, he set the accused free on bail deeming the amount of pre-trial time Knot would have to spend behind bars due to the backlogged system, unreasonable.

“The decision to release someone back into the community while awaiting trial should be based on merits of the case — not that the matter can’t progress in a timely manner through the court system,” said Progressive Conservative Justice Critic Gerald Hawranik.

“The NDP’s refusal to get tough on crime is forcing the hand of judges far too often in Manitoba and putting Manitobans at risk. It’s not fair to our judges and prosecutors, it’s not fair to victims and their families, it’s not fair to our over-worked police and it’s not fair to Manitobans whose safety is in jeopardy because of the revolving door,” Hawranik said. “The only ones who win with the NDP’s lack of a crime plan are criminals.”

Yet more grim proof that the NDP and Attorney General Dave Chomiak have brutally mismanaged law and order is that just days into the New Year, Manitoba was already Canada’s murder capital, Hawranik points out.

“In eight years with this NDP government the only thing Manitoba is first at is crime.”