The Yukon Legal Services Society is seeking funds from the territorial government to pay for transcripts necessary for convicted killer Norman Larue’s appeal.

Larue was found guilty of first-degree murder in July 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.

He and his then-girlfriend, Christina Asp, were both convicted for the death of Gordon Seybold in 2008. They were charged with forcing their way into the man’s Ibex Valley cabin, beating him with a bat and burning the home to the ground.

Larue filed his appeal on time, one month after the conviction and sentencing.

But the appeal still hasn’t been heard. The matter was before the Yukon Court of Appeal’s Chief Justice Robert J. Bauman on Friday for a readiness hearing.

Nils Clarke, executive director of the legal services society, told the judge he was seeking an “independent funding contract” with the territorial government over trial transcripts.

He said in an interview today it’s possible the appeal will be heard later this year, during a November sitting of the Yukon Court of Appeal in Whitehorse.

Or the matter could be heard in Vancouver.

Difficulties in obtaining the transcripts have delayed the appeal, Clarke said. For such a proceeding, appeal books have to be compiled. They include trial transcripts, the instructions the judge gave to the jury and the indictment.

In the Larue case, the transcripts were first ordered from the company that recorded the trial. It quoted about $45,000 for the job, Clarke said. But its contract with the Yukon government ended and the job wasn’t completed, he said.

StenoTran, the company now on contract, priced the job at up to $90,000, Clarke said.

This was a “pretty huge” stumbling block, he said. “This is out of any ball park we’ve ever dealt with.”

The legal services society, which provides legal aid in the territory, has been negotiating with StenoTran, and Clarke said the price has dropped closer to what the first company quoted.

But even that isn’t in the society’s budget.

“It has to be negotiated separately with YG,” Clarke said. “That’ll be the final piece of the puzzle here. I think we’re as far as we can get now with our negotiations with StenoTran. Hopefully it’s a number that YG can live with.”

The society does pay for transcripts – for bail reviews or so lawyers can review a judge’s reasons for sentencing – but they typically cost a few hundred dollars, Clarke said.

Ordering the transcript of a three-month-long murder trial is not something Yukon legal aid typically has to do.

Once Clarke can meet with the Yukon government, and if the funding is approved, it’s expected StenoTran would need about two to four months to transcribe the recordings and compile the appeal book.

Then, Clarke said legal aid will have to assess the appeal to determine if it has merit, given a 2014 Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Mr. Big investigations. This type of investigation – which involves an undercover police operation that attempts to convince a suspect to join a fake criminal organization and confess their offences to crime boss “Mr. Big” – was used in Larue’s and Asp’s cases.

Last year’s Supreme Court ruling stated that confessions obtained through Mr. Big operations should be analyzed carefully by the court. It introduced new considerations for judges, such as the reliability of the confession as well as police conduct throughout the investigation.

Because of the ruling, “We want to make sure that we cover the bases and make sure that there’s a relatively detailed analysis of whether there’s merit or not,” Clarke said.

The “incredibly frustrating” part, he said, is that the transcripts are needed to conduct the assessment, which would determine whether the appeal would be heard or not.

If it’s determined Larue’s appeal doesn’t have merit, thousands of dollars will have already been spent on an appeal book for a proceeding that won’t take place.

“We don’t think there’s any way around it,” Clarke said of the situation, adding the society has conducted a preliminary assessment based on the information it does have.

In Larue’s appeal, he argues the trial judge erred by not imposing a venue change, given the extensive media coverage of Larue and the crime. His lawyer had requested the trial be moved out of the territory for this reason, but Justice Scott Brooker decided it wasn’t necessary.

Among other grounds for his appeal, Larue posits that Brooker erred by admitting “hearsay evidence” from Asp – the statement she gave undercover officers engaged in the operation. Asp refused to testify at Larue’s trial and was cited for contempt of court. As a result, the appeal states, Larue’s lawyer was unable to cross-examine her.