Dennis Oland defence grills officers about bloody crime scene, opened back door

The Saint John police investigation ofRichardOland'shomicide remainedin the spotlight Tuesday as Dennis Oland's defence lawyers grilled another four officers about their actions at the crime scene the day the victim's bludgeoned body was discovered.

The court heard two of the officers were among the first to arrive at 52 Canterbury St.onthe morning of July 7, 2011.

Both entered the victim's blood-spattered office without wearing any protective gear, but they bothtestified they tried to avoid stepping on any blood, didn't touch anythingand retraced their steps back out.

• On mobile?Follow the live blog here

Oland, 50, is being retriedfor second-degree murderin the death of his multimillionaire father. The 69-year-old businessman suffered more than 40 blows to his head, neck and hands.

A jury foundOlandguilty in December 2015, but the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in October 2016 and ordered a new trial, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury.

Thejudge-alone retrial, which began Nov. 21, has heard at least 19 officers attended the crime scene in the hours after the body was discovered.Const. Duane Squires, who guarded the scene, testified under cross-examination Friday that in hindsight, he "probably would have done things differently."

Const. Don Shannon testified Tuesday his first priority when he responded to the dispatch call at 8:54 a.m. of a male not conscious and not breathing,was to determine the condition of the victim and what assistance he required.

He raced up the stairs to the second-storey office and wasabout two feet from the body splayed face down on the floor when he noticed "a lot" of dried blood, he said.

That's when hisfocus quickly shifted to seeing if there was anyone else in the office,he told the courtroom. He said he stepped around the pool of blood andstayed close to the walls to avoid contaminating any evidence, as he was trained to do at the police academy.

Acting Sgt. Stan Miller, who arriveda few minutes later, acknowledged under cross-examination by the defence that he entered the bloody office after he already knew the victim was deceased and that the office had been cleared.

He was only in the office for "seconds" before he exited and didn't believe he stepped in any blood but admitted he couldn't say that with certainty.

Neither officer recalled their footwear ever being tested for blood.

DuringOland'sfirst trial in 2015, the court heard about a suspected partial footwear impression in blood, which forensic Sgt. Mark Smith originally thought may have been created when the body was removedbut later realized, after reviewing photographs of the crime scene, that the pattern had been there before the removal.

Back door opened by someone before testing

The trial also heard from Const. Shanda (Eleuterio) Weir and Const. Ben MacLeodabout the building's back door, which is located on the second-floorfrom the front of the building butexitsat almost ground levelbecause the building isbuilt on a hill.

The defence contends itwould have been the preferred exit of the "killer or killers" because it was the most hidden route. However, court has heard it wasn't tested for forensic evidence, the court has heard.

Weir said after making sure the victim's BMW was towed to the police garage as evidence, she was assigned to provide scene securityin the second-floor foyer, starting around 2:45 p.m.

The back door, which other witnesses have said was closed that morning,was open when she started in the foyer and was still open when she left around 6:15 p.m., she said. She told the defence she has no idea who opened it.

MacLeod, who relieved Weir in providing scene security in the foyer, said the back door was open while he was there too. It was a warm night and he said he often either sat or stood in the doorway to catch some fresh air during his approximately 12-hour shift.

Video shows possible back door escape route

Oland defence enactment video of possible escape

6 years ago

Duration 1:00

Dennis Oland's defence lawyers submitted this enactment video of the possible back door escape route of the "killer or killers" at the retrial on Friday. The video, created in 2014, three years after Richard Oland was killed, was never shown the jury at the accused's first trial in 2015.

On Friday, Oland's defence lawyersplayed a video to illustrate how the killer or killerscould have escaped using the back door.

The video wasn't shown to the jury atOland'sfirst trial in 2015 and wasn'tofficially entered into evidence until Tuesday.But Court of Queen's Bench Justice Terrence Morrison agreed to watch the contentious enactment, created by the defence with the help of a law student.

It shows the man at the rear of the buildingwalk to his right, hop on top of a small garage in the alleyway, climb over a low retaining wall to a grassy backyard, turn leftdown a narrow passageway between two buildings,open a wooden gate at the end andexitontoGermainStreet.

"That's a possible escape route you agree with that don't you?" lead defence lawyer Alan Gold asked Squires, another of the first officers on scene that morning.

"Sure," replied Squires.

"It wasn't that hard to climb upon those two elevations?" pressed Gold.

"No," the officer acknowledged.

Crown prosecutor Jill Knee had objected to the defence's video,noting it was filmed in 2014three years after Oland was killed.

She argued it isunclear if it's representative of the area at the time, citing as an examplea pile of debris that made it easier for the law student to climb on top of the garage.

Knee said the video hasno probative valueand is highly prejudicial.

But Gold argued Squires was making it "sound harder than it would have been" for someone to escape using that route and accused the Crown oftrying to minimize the significanceof the back door.

The Crown withdrew its objection to the video being entered into evidence on Tuesday.

Family pushed for police probe to resume

Oland'sfamily issued a statement Mondaydemandingthe New Brunswick Police Commission immediately resume its investigation into the police force's handling of the case.

The inquiry was put on hold in 2016pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

The family saidthere's no reasonthe probe can't proceed now becausethe retrial isby judge alone, without a jury.

"We are confident that findings from such an inquiry will support the conclusions that the investigation was filled with missteps and Dennis should never have been charged," read the statement signed by his mother Connie, wife Lisa, and family of his uncle DerekOland, the executive chairman ofMooseheadBreweries Limited.

Oland family lawyer Bill Teed had urged the commission to reactivate its reviewof the force's investigation in the summer of 2017 on behalf of the accused's mother and victim's widow, Constance (Connie) Oland, newly released court documents show.

The commission's stated reason for postponing the review, to ensure it didn't impact her son'songoing criminal proceedings, was "flawed," Teed arguedin the July 6 letter, which was previously under a publication ban,to commission chairRonCormier.

"The quality or lack thereof of the police investigation was and remains a live issue and if your investigation confirms the many flaws alleged that will only ensure that justice is done for Dennis Oland and his family," Teed wrote.

He noted it could beyears before the criminal proceedings concluded and ifthe commission's inquiry wasdelayed until then, the quality of its investigation would"surely suffer," he said.

Commission lawyer Robert Basque replied five days later, saying there would "eventually" be an examination of the force's conduct in relation to the Olandinvestigation.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. It's expected to last four months.