Kentville man charged in drug death released
A Kings County man charged in a prescription drug death was released from custody Wednesday after being rearrested last month for escaping.
Kyle David James Fredericks, 22, was charged in March with criminal negligence causing death and drug trafficking in connection with the death of Joshua Graves, 21.
Graves died from a combination of alcohol and Dilaudid at a house party in March 2011.
Fredericks, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, was free on an undertaking that he allegedly breached July 29.
He was arrested but escaped from police custody and was on the lam for five days before police received a tip and arrested him at a Berwick apartment Sunday night.
Fredericks now faces charges of breaching an undertaking and escaping custody, and appeared on those charges Wednesday in Kentville provincial court.
Defence lawyer Chris Manning asked that the case be put over to Sept. 24 while he has discussions with the Crown.
“There appears to be some issue over the validity of the original undertaking that goes to the (breach charge),” Manning said.
Fredericks will be back in court Sept. 24 on the two new charges.
He was freed until then on several conditions. Fredericks will be tried Jan. 8 on the trafficking and criminal negligence causing death allegations.
The accused is alleged to have provided the drugs that killed Graves at a Cambridge party.
Initially, no charges were laid, but Kings District RCMP reopened the case when Graves’s sister filed a formal complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.
The RCMP later apologized to Graves and her family for not conducting a thorough investigation and said from now on they will put more effort into investigating sudden deaths.