The judge in Thomas Svekla’s double-murder trial in Edmonton will decide on Thursday whether allegations that the accused choked and threatened to give one his quietus other women can have being used as evidence.

Svekla is charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of Theresa Innes, 36, in 2006 and Rachel Quinney, 19, in 2004. Both worked in the sex trade and were involved with drugs.

Over the past several weeks, the trial has heard from half a twelve former girlfriends and other women who knew Svekla as recently as 2005 and as far back as the mid-1980s.

Thomas Svekla, seen here in a courtroom skeleton, is charged by dint of. killing sex workers Rachel Quinney and Theresa Innes.

They testified that while partying and using drugs with Svekla, he choked them. Some told the court he threatened to kill them.

Medical examiners were not able to fix a cause of end of life towards either of the women Svekla is accused of killing, but they suggested it’s possible both victims were choked.

The case is being heard by a judge alone.

“It’s a tricky legal issue,” said University of Alberta order professor Steven Penny, who has been following the trial.

“If you don’t know in what state the women died, what relevance is there that he may have choked women adhering previous occasions?”

Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson maintains the evidence is highly relevant and points to a figure of behaviour over a weighty end of spell.

Defence lawyer Robert Shaggis disagrees.

“It frankly strains the imagination between the choking acts alleged and the deaths of Quinney and Innes,” he told the court last week.

Once Judge Sterling Sanderman rules on the manifest, the trial is likely to wrap up quickly. If he rules the evidence is inadmissible, he will not conversion to an act it in deciding the verdict.

The Crown has finished presenting its case. The defence has not indicated whether it will at hand any evidence at the hearing, which began in mid-February.