The court appearance for the Montreal man accused of killing his nine-year-old daughter in the United States has been cancelled. Luciano Frattolin, 45, was set to appear at the town courthouse in Ticonderoga, N.Y., Friday afternoon, but the court confirmed the appearance will no longer take place. “The felony hearing for Friday at 1 p.m. is cancelled. The case is being held for grand jury action,” stated the courthouse’s voicemail. “The court has no further information.” What is a grand jury? Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens called by the court to determine whether there’s probable cause for a case to proceed to trial. They do not determine guilt or innocence and are usually composed of 16 to 23 people. Prosecutors present their evidence during grand jury hearings, which are private, and can include court documents and witness testimony. What happened Frattolin’s daughter, Melina Frattolin, was found dead on July 20 in a shallow pond in Ticonderoga, N.Y., about 50 km northeast of Lake George near the New York-Vermont boundary. The father and daughter entered the U.S. on July 11 for a vacation and were supposed to return the day her body was found. On Tuesday, New York State police revealed preliminary autopsy results into her death showed that Melina died of asphyxia due to drowning and ruled her death a homicide. Her father was charged a day earlier with second-degree murder and the concealment of a human corpse. The Associated Press reported that a plea of not guilty was entered on Frattolin’s behalf on Monday morning.
