ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The daughter of a one-time top public servant in Newfoundland and Labrador has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Five weeks have been set aside for the trial of Anne Norris, a 29-year-old former leading athlete, to start on Jan. 15 of next year.
Norris, who appeared in the province's Supreme Court on Monday, is charged in the death of 46-year-old Marcel Reardon, whose body was found outside a downtown apartment building on May 9.
Residents who saw the body told reporters he appeared to have been badly beaten.
Police have said that they recovered a weapon, and that Reardon and Norris knew each other.
Norris, whose father Gary Norris is a former clerk of the provincial executive council and secretary to cabinet, was named in 2005 to the provincial women's under-19 basketball team competing at the junior national championships.