Riverdale TV actor Ryan Grantham won’t be going to trial in May on a charge of second-degree murder in his mother’s death in Squamish.
Rather, a B.C. Supreme Court judge heard on Jan. 12 that the defence and Crown are in discussions to wind the case up.
Whether that means a guilty plea or an acquittal remains to be seen.
Grantham was charged with second-degree murder after his 64-year-old mother, Barbara Waite, was found dead in a Squamish home on April 1, 2020.
A shaven, clean-cut Grantham, 24, made an appearance from jail by video Jan. 12.
Justice Janet Winteringham was told that a trial date had been set for May 30-June 15.
However, defence lawyer Talia Armstrong told Winteringham, the trial date is being struck and the case will proceed to a disposition. In the meantime, she said discussion with Crown prosecutors about the case continue.
Police said at the time of Waite’s death that officers responded after a family member found a body in a home on the 40000-block Government Road.
“Frontline officers determined that the victim, later confirmed to be Ms. Waite, had met with foul play and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called in,” said a release from homicide investigators.
Grantham made his first appearance in B.C. Provincial Court on April 9, 2020
Homicide investigators worked with the Sea to Sky RCMP, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Police Department, the Integrated Forensic Identification Services and the BC Coroners Service.
Riverdale was a series based on the Archie comics.
Grantham began his career as a child actor aged nine and has had multiple TV and movie roles
At 11, he was cast for a role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a 2009 film directed by Monty Python’s Flying Circus comedy team alumnus Terry Gilliam.
Grantham returns to court on Feb. 9 to fix a date for a resolution of the case.
