The Crown is asking the attorney general to waive Alek Minassian’s preliminary inquiry and proceed by direct indictment to Ontario Superior Court.

The 25-year-old faces 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder for the carnage he allegedly caused. He is accused of deliberately hitting pedestrians driving a rented cargo van along a busy stretch of Yonge St., between Sheppard and Finch Aves., mid-afternoon on April 23.

“The attorney general has the final say on that request,” defence lawyer Boris Bytensky told reporters after appearing Friday in Ontario court on his client’s behalf.

Minassian was not in court.

“The Criminal Code provides for that power so it will be exercised in accordance with whatever the attorney general deems appropriate,” Bytensky said.

Bytensky said if the matter proceeds directly to Superior Court, it is conceivable the case could be heard sometime next year.

Minassian was arrested near the crime scene after a highly publicized confrontation with a Toronto police officer.

Minassian’s last court appearance was in May when he was remanded in custody over the summer while his lawyers reviewed the disclosure provided to them by Toronto police. The disclosure in the case is massive and includes thousands of pages of paper evidence along with hundreds of video and audio statements.

“This is probably the largest amount of disclosure that I’ve ever received in a case,” Bytensky said.

“We have a job to do which is to review everything that’s been provided to us, to be in a position to respond to the allegations as professionally as we can.”

After the rampage, that made headlines around the world, a portrait emerged of a socially awkward software developer and failed military recruit who may have been motivated to kill because of his resentment of women. Eight of the victims were women, ranging from a 22-year-old student to a 94-year-old retiree.

Facebook confirmed a post in Minassian’s name where he pledged allegiance to a so-called “Incel Rebellion,” an online community of men with a shared resentment of women who refuse to have sex with them.

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Minassian has no prior criminal record. He lived in Richmond Hill with his parents.

His next court appearance is Nov. 1.