Calgary courts busy in 2026 with a multitude of high profile cases scheduled

Two men accused of killing an apparent Good Samaritan believed to have stopped to offer assistance, a man suspected of tunnelling through the walls of his condo to a neighbour’s and a case of what police have called road-rage turned deadly.

Those are just some of the high-profile cases expected to make headlines from the Calgary Courts Centre in the coming year.

Arthur Wayne Penner and Elijah Blake Strawberry are scheduled to face a jury trial in May in connection with the fatal shooting of a Rocky View County employee as well as the attempted murder of a second man.

Ben Edward Maize is set to stand trial in Calgary Court of Justice in January on charges including break and enter and two counts of disobeying a court order, over allegations he entered an upstairs neighbour’s apartment through a crawl space behind his unit’s fireplace.

And Steven Allen is expected to face a Court of King’s Bench jury next September on a charge of manslaughter in connection with a Dec. 12, 2023, suspected case of road rage involving another motorist, David Berglund.

According to police, the incident which resulted in the homicide charge stemmed from a non-injury hit-and-run collision.

Police said they received a call from a passenger in a red, 2004, Chevrolet Aveo who reported they were involved “in an ongoing road rage incident while travelling around several roads in the northeast.”

“At the time, a 2002 GMC Sierra was reported to be driving erratic and swerving in and out of traffic, and it is alleged the driver flashed a knife toward the occupants of the Chevrolet Aveo,” police said.

“The altercation is believed to have stemmed from a non-injury hit-and-run collision that occurred between the two vehicles shortly before the call was made to 911.”

In Maize’s case, police responded to reports of a break-and-enter last Sept. 5, in the 6400 block of Coach Hill Road S.W.

“The victim reported that she was experiencing ongoing issues with a downstairs neighbour, which had intensified in recent weeks,” Calgary police said in a news release.

“Upon returning to her residence after being away, she discovered significant disturbances inside the home, including a large hole in the floor, despite her door being locked.”

Strawberry and Penner are charged with second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Colin John Hough.

Hough was shot on a rural road near Conrich, east of Calgary, when it’s believed he pulled over to offer assistance in connection with a burning truck.

A second individual, Matthew Andres, was also shot, but survived.

Those three cases aren’t the only ones expected to make news in 2026.

Four boys charged with first-degree murder; a Calgary police officer accused of fatally shooting two men during a low-speed chase along Memorial Drive N.E.; a city senior accused of manslaughter in the death of another elderly man in a northwest parking lot; the killing of an Okotoks woman in a city parkade; and the sentencing of a husband who made an apparent suicide attempt after murdering his wife, are some of the other cases which will also grab headlines in 2026.

Calgary police are alleging the killing of city teen Carter Spivak-Villeneuve last Aug. 1, was a premeditated act.

Police said they responded to reports of a person in medical distress in the 300 block of Abergale Drive N.E. around 1:20 a.m. that day.

Four youths are now charged with first-degree murder in his killing, although their case is in the early stages and its unlikely the group, three 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old at the time of the Spivak-Villeneuve’s death, will stand trial before the end of 2026.

But the case will certainly be one to follow as it is possible lawyers for all four will seek their release on bail pending a resolution to the case.

Currently counsel are awaiting Crown disclosure before the teens’ case returns to youth court early in the New Year.

Const. Craig Stothard was released on bail within hours of being charged last July 14, with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of two men in connection with a May 29, 2023, incident in which police opened fire on a stolen cube van after a slow-speed chase along busy Memorial Drive N.E.

The driver of the van, Wesley Davidson, and passenger Levon Fox Wildman, were killed.

Stothard’s case is also in its early stages as defence counsel Don MacLeod reviews a large volume of electronic disclosure from the Crown, but will likely proceed to a preliminary inquiry sometime in 2026.

Chiu Man Yuen has also been freed on bail after being charged with manslaughter in the death of 76-year-old Kwok-Leung Lau following an Oct. 21, altercation at a McDonald’s restaurant parking lot in the city’s northwest.

His case will be back in court early in the New Year.

Devon Bradley Malik is scheduled to face a preliminary inquiry in April on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Madisson Cobb.

Malik, wo remains in custody, is accused of attacking Cobb in a parking garage off Macleod Trail S.W. in the afternoon of July 19, not far from where she worked at a LASIK MD clinic.

At the time of the shooting, Malik was under a court order not to have contact with the Okotoks resident or attend at her place of employment.

And the lawyer for wife killer Maninderpreet Singh is still in the process of setting a sentencing date for his client in connection with the second-degree murder of Manpreet Kaur.

Singh pleaded guilty in October to strangling his wife in their Redstone Common N.E. home after subjecting her to months of physical and emotional abuse. After the woman’s body was found Singh was taken in for questioning by police, but subsequently released.

As officers conducted surveillance on him he was followed to the downtown Bow Valley College campus. He went up to the third floor and jumped from a balcony into the street below, surviving the fall.

Singh remains in custody pending his sentencing hearing, where he will be handed an automatic life sentence with parole ineligibility still to be determined.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts