Woman awaiting murder trial makes second attempt at bail

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A woman scheduled to stand trial next year on a charge of second-degree murder is making her second attempt to get out of jail after failing the first time.

Megan Ethel Marten, 38, of Fredericton, Dylan Alexander Jackson, 28, of Doaktown, and Dana Livingston Mundell, 49, of Fredericton, are all charged with murdering 32-year-old Kyla Cindy Lapointe on Tuesday, July 11, in Moncton. Their judge and jury trial is set for March 24 to April 11, 2025, in Moncton’s Court of King’s Bench.

Marten was before Justice Robert Dysart in the prisoner’s dock on Thursday after she made an application for a detention review, with defence lawyer Brian Munro present and Patrick Wilbur representing the Crown.

Marten already had a bail hearing in the Court of King’s Bench on Sept. 8 with Chief Justice Tracey DeWare presiding, and on Sept. 25, DeWare ordered Marten to remain remanded until her trial. The contents of the bail hearing and the judge’s reasons for her decision are covered by a publication ban intended to keep details of the case from tainting a future jury pool.

With Marten asking for another detention review, Dysart pointed out on Thursday that the publication ban is still in effect and covers the contents of Thursday’s hearing. While little can be reported, the judge and lawyers discussed the situation for almost an hour and Dysart scheduled the detention review to be heard by another judge on Tuesday and set aside the full day.

Marten has been lobbying for her release since the trio made their first court appearance on July 12.

“For me to be charged and held, shouldn’t they have some type of evidence that I committed murder?” she asked at the time. “There’s no evidence showing I had anything to do with it and I have children. There should be some type of evidence before families are ripped apart. They haven’t let me talk to my kids.”

She told the court in July that she feared she would lose custody of her children if detained.

New Brunswick RCMP’s Major Crime Unit said in a news release last July that it was investigating the death of a 32-year-old woman as a homicide. On Tuesday at 2:45 a.m., members of the Codiac Regional RCMP responded to a report of a disturbance on Belleview Street and when police arrived they located a woman in the street who was suffering from multiple stab wounds. The woman was transported to hospital where she later died as a result of her injuries.

Police said in the news release that a short time later they stopped a vehicle that had been observed near the scene in connection with the investigation and arrested three people.