Douglas Garland will not testify in own defence at triple murder trial

Douglas Garland will not testify in his own defence at his triple-murder trial in Calgary, jurors heard Thursday after the Crown wrapped four weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses with dramatic video of the accused being chased through a farm field at night.

Garland, 57, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, accused of killing Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandparents, Alvin, 66, and KathyLiknes, 53.

Defence lawyers Kim Ross and Jim Lutz told the court Thursday that they would not be calling any evidence,so the jury was dismissed until Monday morning, when closing arguments will be made.

Crown prosecutors Shane Parker and Vicki Faulkner have called about 60 witnesses, ending with Calgary policeConst. JamieParhar.

Parhar wasa rookie street-beat officer who volunteered to help with the investigation in July 2014 after thefive-year-old boy and his grandparents disappeared.

Parhartold court Thursday that she foundherself tracking Garlandalone after getting separated from her partner, jogging through waist-high brush in a farmer's field in the pitch black.

Earlier, Calgary police's surveillance unit had assigned nine members to follow Garland between July 11 and July 14, 2014. In the wee hours on July 14, officers tracked the murder suspect to the back side of his family's farm north of Calgary.

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Thatnight, Parhar and her partner drove to Airdrieafter investigators asked for volunteers to do a traffic stop on Garland, who had been driving around the area.

The only radio Parhar and her partner had wastuned to an encrypted channel with surveillance officers and an officer in a HAWCS helicopter tracking Garland's movements.

Parhar and her partner tried to conduct the traffic stop but Garland drove the rental car intoa farmer's field just north of where he lived, got out and took off running through the field, she told the jury.

Garland running, crawling, hiding

The police officers followed into the field and then got out of their Crown Victoria and began to follow Garland on foot.

Const. Lane Trim, a tactical officer in the HAWCS helicopter was using military quality night-vision technology to guide Parhar who had lost her partner and was, by then, following Garland by herself. She was told over the radio that Garland was running, crawling and "attempting to remain concealed."

The officer, who was then 24 years old, said she was worried about breaking an ankle in the "awful," uneven terrain.

Garland calm during arrest

The two ended up in a dense bank of trees. Though she couldn't see him, Parhar was very close to Garland as he hid in the tall bush around the tree line.

Backup officers arrived and coaxed Garland out of his hiding place and he surrendered, lying face down on the ground. Parhar moved in to handcuff him.

"[He was] very calm, very collected" said Parhar of the suspect's demeanour. "[He] had almost like that thousand-yard stare; very expressionless," she said.

Sitting in the gallery of the courtroom, listening to his daughter testify for her first time in front of a jury, was Calgary Police Service Deputy Chief Sat Parhar.

Earlier this week

The prosecution's theory is that the victims were attacked at the Liknes home and taken to theGarland farm, where they were killed and their bodies burned.

Earlier this week, jurors were shown photos of what appearedto be the bodies of two adults and a smaller figure, laid out near three small sheds on the farm. The photos also showed smoke coming from aburn barrel, as well as the shadow of a person standing nearby.

The images were taken by chance by an aerial-mapping plane on July 1, 2014 the day after the three family members were discovered missing.

Two weeks after a massivesearch for Nathan and his grandparents began, Garland was arrested and charged.

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Garland is connected to theLiknesfamily through his sister,Patti Garland, who was in a common-law relationship with AlvinLiknes'sson, Allen.

Patti Garland, her parents and AllenLiknes all testified earlier that Garland harboured a grudge against AlvinLiknesafter a business relationship soured years earlier.

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