EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick (AP) – A Saint John, New Brunswick, man charged with the hit-and-run death of a nurse from Portland, Maine, goes on trial Monday in Provincial Court.

Adam Wayne Fraser, 28, has been free on $3,000 bail since his arraignment last July in the death of Connie Bellefleur.

Bellefleur, 21, a Madawaska, Maine, native who had been living in Portland, was killed after being struck by a car as she crossed an Edmundston street at about 2 a.m. while at a music festival on Aug. 3, 2002.

Fraser was arrested nearly 11 months after police began the search for the hit-and-run driver responsible for Bellefleur’s death. He has waived a jury trial and elected to be tried by a judge.

Ten days before Fraser was charged, Edmundston police announced the funding of a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Fraser’s wife is a native of Edmundston. She and her husband were living in Saint John, but had been in Edmundston for the annual festival in late July and early August 2002.

The Frasers were not married at the time of the incident, but were wed three days after the hit-and-run. Under Canadian law, even though they were married after the incident, they cannot be forced to testify against each other.

Bellefleur, who was on vacation from her job at Maine Medical Center in Portland, had been visiting her parents for their wedding anniversary that weekend.

Fraser is accused of being in control of a vehicle involved in an accident that caused Bellefleur’s death. The charge also involves leaving the scene of an accident without giving his name and address and without offering assistance.

If convicted of the hit-and-run charge, Fraser faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

AP-ES-02-02-04 0859EST