Halifax man set to face jury trial in death of yoga instructor

Nicholas Jordan Butcher, charged with second-degree murder in the death of Kristin Elizabeth Johnston, arrives at Halifax provincial court on April 12, 2016.

HALIFAX -- More than two years after a Montreal-born yoga instructor was found dead inside her Halifax home, a trial was scheduled to begin for her former partner Tuesday.

Nicholas Jordan Butcher is expected to face a jury trial in the death of 32-year-old Kristin Johnston.

She was found dead on March 26, 2016, at her Oceanview Drive home in Halifax's Purcells Cove district.

Police have said Butcher, who is charged with second-degree murder, was in a "domestic relationship" with Johnston.

Johnston was not yet 30 when she left Montreal for a new life in Nova Scotia. She opened a Bikram yoga studio in downtown Halifax, gaining a reputation as a kind and determined businesswoman with what friends described as a "magnetic" personality.

Renowned Canadian opera singer Measha Brueggergosman, a good friend of Johnston's, has said she "radiated from the inside out."

"She lived life to the fullest," according to Johnston's obituary in Montreal's The Gazette newspaper.

"From hiking in the Himalayas, skydiving in New Zealand, snorkeling in Fiji, salmon fishing in Tofino to energetically running a hot yoga studio in Halifax, her enthusiasm was contagious."

Butcher, in his mid-30s, is being represented by lawyers Peter Planetta and Jonathan Hughes, while Crown lawyers Carla Ball and Tanya Carter are prosecuting the case.

Justice Joshua Arnold will preside over the Nova Scotia Supreme Court trial.

Last fall, on what would have been her 34th birthday, studios across Canada held memorial classes to raise funds for a bursary in her name at the Haven's Come Alive program on Gabriola Island, B.C. It was the second year for the fundraiser.

"Like every homicide, this is a tragic case. Ms. Johnston was a young lady in the prime of her life and it's very unfortunate what happened," Halifax Regional Police Supt. Jim Perrin said after her death.