'Hallmark' evidence in Oland homicide, says Crown

The Crown prosecutor in the Richard Oland homicide investigation says Saint John police have key forensic evidence and releasing any information about it would compromise the ongoing investigation.

Oland was found dead on July 7in his Saint John office. Police confirmed the 69-year-old's death was a homicide and said he likely knew his killer, but they have refused to give many more details about the investigation.

The CBC is seeking a court order to gain access to the information police used to support obtaining six search warrants in the case.

The search warrants have been sealed by the courts.

Brunswick News, which publishes the Telegraph-Journal, is also challenging the sealing orders.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilbur told the provincial court Thursday that the evidence in question is "hallmark" and forensic in nature, but did not elaborate.

He told the court it's "too simplistic to suggest it's a kernel" of evidence. "It encompasses all of the evidence" and one search warrant "builds upon the other," Wilbur said.

Police have "very, very significant concerns" about releasing the information, said his colleague, John Henheffer.

Freedom of the press and the public is not an absolute right, he said.

Criminal defence lawyer Gary Miller, who previously told CBC he had been retained by Oland's son, Dennis Oland, is also seeking access to the search warrant information.

He told the court he is representing an "interested person."

Police searched the home of Dennis Olandon Gondola Point Road in Rothesay on July 14,a nearby wooded areaby the Bill McGuire Community Centre the following day,as well as a sailboat owned by his wife, Lisa Oland, and another woman at the Royal Kennebecasis Yacht Club in Saint John on July 21.

Dennis Oland, a financial adviser with Wood Gundy, who was reportedly questioned extensively by police after his father's death, did not attend Thursday's court proceedings.

Details about other search warrants executed in the case are now under a publication ban.

William Teed, who is representing Dennis Oland's wife, Lisa Oland, Mary Bett Watt, and Jack Connell, is objecting to the media application.

Chief provincial court Judge R. Leslie Jackson decided to hold an ex-parte hearing to allow the Crown the opportunity to present detailed evidence as to why "justice would be subverted by disclosure."

The Crown said it planned to put a police officer on the stand for several hours.

Jackson said if it's notclear cut that releasing the information would jeopardize the investigation, he would invite the other parties back on Friday morning to make further arguments for release of the information.

Openness the rule

David Coles, who is representing the CBC and Brunswick News, argued the search warrants, the information used to obtain them, and information about the items seized,should be made public.

The courts have ruled that search warrants should only be sealed in a handful of situations where "the ends of justice would be subverted by the disclosure," he said.

"Covertness is the exception and openness is the rule."

Based on case law, search warrants may only be sealed when the information they contain would:

• Compromise the identity of a confidential informant.
• Compromise the nature and extent of an ongoing investigation.
• Endanger a person engaged in intelligence-gathering techniques and thereby prejudice future investigations in which similar techniques would be used.
• Prejudice the interests of an innocent person.

The media should have access to the search warrant informationto be able to reassure the citizens of the community that the investigation is proper, that it's proceeding, and that the rights of the people who were searched were protected, said Coles.

"Right now, we're operating in a vacuum," he said.

Even if the court rules that the release of certain key information couldcompromise the investigation, Coles argued he finds it "hard to accept" that all of it must remain sealed.

Miller says client should get 'special status'

Miller argued that his client needs the information in order to assess the legality and constitutionality of the search.

He questioned how disclosure of information to "an interested party," such as whether forensic testing of seized items was done and if anything was found, could compromise the police investigation.

Miller also argued his client should have "special status" and get access to the search warrant information before the media and the public.

He said he can trump the media's right to get access to the information if he can argue it's necessary for one of the exceptions set out in case lawthat it would prejudice the interests of an innocent person.

But he can't make that argument without knowing what the information contains, he said.

"There's no great shame in delaying access to the media in such situations," Miller said, urging the court not to rush such "important, even potentially ground-breaking issues."

"The sky's not going to fall," he said.

There may be a stage, if the investigation drags on, that the issue could be revisited, Miller added. "That stage has not yet arrived."

William Teed did not make any arguments, saying only that he supports Miller's position.

Coles countered that the media have a right to access search warrant information immediately following a search and five months have already passed.

The information should be released now, unless the Crown can convince the judge that it will jeopardize the investigation, he said.

Simply arguing that the release may interfere, based on "speculative assertions," is not enough, Coles said.