A number of “admissions” have been filed in order to shorten the trial length of former Gabriolan Jason Cramer, and prevent stabbing victim Trevor Schwartz from having to testify twice, Crown Council Jacqueline Gaudet said Tuesday.

As previously reported, Cramer has been charged with second degree murder and attempted murder for the stabbing death of Gabriolan Elaine Schwartz, and the serious injury of her then-18 year old son Trevor.

At a Tuesday focus hearing – or preliminary enquiry – at the Law Courts building in Nanaimo, Gaudet told the court that the defence was willing to “make admissions for” photographs of the crime scene and of Cramer’s arrest, and of the identity of Elaine Schwartz. Gaudet also said the defence would accept the pathologist’s filed report of the cause of Elaine Schwartz’s death without requiring further testimony.

Two statements by Trevor Schwartz will also be filed without a requirement for cross-examination, Gaudet said, and a DNA lab report will be filed without requiring testimony from the biologist who wrote them.

She said a tentative witness list has been drawn up, and includes five “civilian” witnesses, and six to eight officers.

A trial confirmation hearing date at which Cramer will be appearing by video is scheduled for Sept. 11, Gaudet said. She said Cramer’s trial is scheduled to begin October 19.

Cramer, who was arrested August 5, 2011 after a Gabriola Island-wide manhunt, appeared at the court by video, as he has on previous court dates.