Derek Saretzky, the man accused of murdering two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette and her father Terry Blanchette, made a brief appearance in a Lethbridge court on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old is facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths, along with a charge of committing an indignity to a body.
He was originally scheduled to appear in court last week, but that court appearance was put over by his lawyer.
Sources say that Saretzky attempted to take his own life while in custody at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre and he was hospitalized as a result.
Saretzky was released from hospital on Monday and was placed back in police custody.
On Wednesday morning, he appeared in court via CCTV and has hired Edmonton lawyer Peter Northcott to represent him.
Saretzky's defence team asked for a 30 day adjournment so he can undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Southern Alberta Psychiatric Forensic Centre.
"The purpose of a psychiatric assessment is two-fold, the first is to determine whether or not the accused is fit to stand trial. In the basic sense that means, whether or not he understands what's going on, understands the court process. The second purpose of that is to see what his mental state was at the time of the offence, what was going on in his head," said Patrick Edgerton, a representative for the defence.
The case has now been pushed to October 29th and if it goes to trial the case will be heard by judge and jury.
