Defence seeks mistrial, tries again to paint jailed victim as criminal in Angela Cardinal case

A career criminal hoped to convince a judge that sexual predator Lance Blanchard was wrongly convicted.

"I'm here because, as much as I'd like to see him [Blanchard]spend the rest of his life in jail," Wayne Wilcox testified,"I don't think he's guilty of those offences."

Last December, Blanchard was found guilty of aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement and possession of a weapon.

His victim was a homeless, Indigenous woman CBC has identified using the pseudonym Angela Cardinal.

The case made international headlines when CBC News revealed Cardinal was incarcerated during her testimony at Blanchard's preliminary hearing. She died months later in an unrelated shooting.

• I'm the victim and I'm in shackles': Edmonton woman jailed while testifying against her attacker

• Doubts about sex assault victim Angela Cardinal raised in sworn affidavit

On Wednesday, Blanchard's lawyer presented a mistrial applicationbased on new information he obtained from Wilcox after Blanchard was convicted.

Wilcox, 41, said he and Cardinal had been friends and used a lot of street drugs together.

"We would use crack cocaine,"Wilcox testified. "We'd smoke it, shoot it, inject it."

Wilcox said Cardinal also used heroin, morphine, marijuana and that "she loved to drink."

But he insisted he was a good friend to Cardinal, not just a drug buddy.

"I would help her out all the time," he said. "Money, food, give her a place to sleep.I would help her out a lot."

Despite claiming to be close to Cardinal, he admitted he had no idea she died in December, 2015.Wilcox only discovered the truth when Blanchard's lawyer issued a subpoena this spring for him to testify.

Crown prosecutor Patricia Innes attacked Wilcox in her closing submissions Wednesday.

"He doesn't know her from Adam," Innes said. "That he didn't know she was dead was utterly, utterly ridiculous. It's not believable."

Witness claimed Cardinal tried to rob Blanchard

Wilcox testified Cardinal's main source of income to pay for drugs was through robberies.He claimed she placed online ads looking for a place to live, then cased the residence to search for items to steal.

Wilcox said Cardinal tried to convince him to be her lookout during a robbery at Blanchard's apartment.

"I think she said she put an ad. She was going to this place to go rent it," Wilcox said. "She was going to go steal some of his stuff. She told me these guys were creeps.She assumed I'd want to be a part of it because I don't like creeps."

Wilcox said he refused. However, he testified he heard what happened that day when he ran into Cardinal about a month later.

The story he told closely mirrors the testimony Lance Blanchard delivered last year at his own trial. The judge had rejected Blanchard's evidence as unbelievable.

Here's what Wilcox claimed Cardinal told him about that day in June2014 at Blanchard's apartment:

"She said she climbed up the balcony. She said she went into the kitchen.I think she thought nobody was there. She said she started grabbing some stuff and then somebody yelled out to her and then came out and confronted her. That person had a knife. She took off running I think into the bathroom. When she came out of the bathroom, they got into a confrontation. She cut herself on this knife.

"This guy called the cops on her and she was trying to get away. Then when the cops showed up, she said the cops were telling her about this guy, how he's a dangerous sex offender."

According to Wilcox, Cardinal was "elated" when the police charged Blanchard that day instead of her.

"And she was surprised by that," Wilcox said.

Crown: 'This is all fabricated'

During a lengthy cross examination, Innes attacked Wilcox's story and his credibility.

She suggested the story about the break-in had been fed to him by Blanchard andthat he promised Wilcox money if he testified.

Wilcox denied the allegations.

"I put it to you that this is all fabricated," Innes said.

"I'm sorry you think that," he replied.

Later,Innes told Justice Eric Macklinthe testimony from Wilcox was "not strong enough to even move a feather forward, quite frankly."

She asked the judge to dismiss the application for a mistrial.

"Mr. Wilcox is a wholly unbelievable individual, completely devoid of credibility," Innes said. "Hs lengthy record shows he'll do what it takes to get what he wants. I respectfully submit he didn't even know her. He didn't know she put little notes in her sock. That she did needlepoint, liked to do art work."

Defence lawyer Tom Engel strongly disagreed with the Crown's assessment.

"The real issue here is whether the evidence is reasonably capable of belief," Engel said.

He argued the evidence from Wilcox was strong enough to overturn the conviction and order a mistrial.Because of past rulings made by Macklin, Engel also argued any new trial should be heard by a different judge.

Decision to come

Macklin said he would hand down a written decision next week on the mistrial application.

Meanwhile, the defence filed yet another application last week for a stay of proceedings or a mistrial.In the four-page document, Engel argued the Crown failed to provide proper, full and timely disclosure.

"This non-disclosure demonstrates that the court and the applicant can no longer rely on the Crown to fulfill its duty to make full disclosure," Engel wrote.

He's asked for a number of members of the Edmonton Crown prosecutionoffice to testify at a hearing.

In response, Edmonton Chief Crown Prosecutor Shelley Bykewich told the judge Engel's allegations are"inaccurate, speculative and untrue."

"There has not been any improper conduct and no lack of full disclosure," Bykewich said. But since members of her own office will be called as witnesses, she asked a Calgary Crown prosecutor to handle the latest application.

Justice Macklin has agreed to hear evidence in the most recent defence application on August 21.