MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — A southeastern Alberta man who pleaded guilty to wilfully promoting hatred on fake currency wants to withdraw his plea and has parted ways with his lawyer.
Defence lawyer Mike Gilchrist entered the plea at what was supposed to be the start of Loki Hulgaard's trial last week in Medicine Hat provincial court.
On Tuesday, Gilchrist asked to be removed as Hulgaard's counsel.
Hulgaard, who was born Brendan Stanley Dell, was charged in August 2018 after a Safeway cashier reported to police that he had tried to spend currency with the anti-Semitic slogans "ZOG'' (Zionist Occupied Government) and "Jewish White Genocide.''
Hulgaard also faced 13 weapons-related charges, but pleaded guilty to contravening the conditions of his firearm licence, which is not a criminal offence.
Hulgaard's next court appearance is set for March 26, which was supposed to be his sentencing hearing, but a date for his request to strike his guilty pleas is to be set instead.
In an online version of the Medicine Hat News story about Hulgaard's guilty pleas, a user with the screen name 'loki' weighed in.
"I have plead (sic) guilty predominantly because of death threats I have received that were used as a means to coercing me into accepting the plea bargain. If I were jailed I feared for my life," the person wrote. (Medicine Hat News)
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2020
The Canadian Press