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Terri-Lynne McClintic Charges Upgraded to Murder, Trials Severed

by Tina Kells | May 28, 2009 at 02:19 pm

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The Ontario justice system is moving swiftly and with a firm hand in the Tori Stafford murder case as Terri Lynne-McClintic and Michael Thomas C. S. Rafferty appeared in court to answer charges of kidnapping and killing the 8-year old Woodstock girl.

Terri Lynne-McClinitic, originally charged with only kidnapping, had her charges upgraded to include first degree murder and unlawful confinement. McClintic had been aiding police in searching for the body of Tori Stafford, which has not yet been recovered.

The trials of Terri Lynne-McClintic and Michael Rafferty were also severed, meaning they will not be tried together, a highly unusual move. This normally happens when one party is preparing to testify against the other. It is unclear at this time whether it is McClinitic or Rafferty who is co-operating with prosecutors, but speculation is that a deal has been reached with Terri-Lynne.

On Thursday, when McClintic and Rafferty made court appearances in Woodstock via video link, the charges against her were upgraded.

McClintic, 18, now faces charges of first-degree murder and unlawful confinement.

Rafferty faces the same charges. Both have been remanded in custody.

"It's not unusual for the nature of charges to change over time as the investigation continues. So I'm not surprised by that," said Jeanine E. LeRoy, McClintic's defence lawyer.