Dennis Oland considered suspect within hours of body discovery, defence suggests

Saint John police were looking for security video of a person matching Dennis Oland's description within hours of his father's bludgeoned body being discovered, his murder retrial heard on Friday.

Patrol Const. Rob Carlisle testified he was assigned over the noon hour onJuly 8, 2011, to collect any security video he could find of the King Street area from the evening of July 6.

Const. Sean Roccaof the major crime unit told him he was interested in the 5:10 p.m. time frame, and Carlisle had jotted down "beige pants dark blazer" in his notebook.

Defence lawyer Michael Lacy asked Carlisle to explain the context of his notes.Carlisle, who didn't testify atOland'sfirst trial in 2015 or at the preliminary inquiry in 2014, said it was difficult to remember more than seven years later.

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"I'm going to suggest to you sir that the context was officerRoccatold you that they believed they had a potential suspect, isn't that right?" Lacy asked.

"I don't recall if there was a name mentioned or how this person fit into the investigation and the time," replied Carlisle.

Pressed further, he said, "The surveillance that I recollect was of a man walking through thepedway" system, which connects several locations in the uptown area.

During Oland'sfirst trial, the jury saw timestamped security stills of himwearing beige pants and a brown sports jacketin the pedwaysystem at 10:32 a.m., on his way to work at CIBCWood Gundyin the Brunswick House office tower, and then again 5:08 p.m., after work.

Olandhad testified he was on his way to visit his multimillionaire father, Richard Oland, at his office, at 52 Canterbury St. He was the last known person to see his father alive.

The body of the 69-year-old was discovered face down in a pool of blood in his office the next morning, shortly before 9 a.m.. He had suffered more than 40 blows to his head, neck and hands.No weapon was ever found.

A jury found his only songuilty 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.

Oland, 50, is now being retried for second-degree murder by judge-alone. Proceedings arescheduled to resume on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

The defence contends policewere too quick to focus onOland and didn't properly search for other suspects.

They have described the investigation by the Saint John Police Force as "inadequate," citing a failure to protect the bloody office, the washroom in the foyer outside the office and back door from contamination.

'Get out of my crime scene'

On Friday, the head of the forensic identification sectiontestified he left the bloody crime scene for a few minutes on July 7, 2011, to retrieve some supplies from his van and when he returned, he found his supervisorand another officer standing near the victim's body.

"What did you do?" asked Crown prosecutor P.J.Veniot.

"I sternly ordered them to get out of my crime scene," repliedSgt. Mark Smith, who was worried about the evidence getting contaminated.

He did not authorize Insp. GlenMcCloskeyorConst. GregOramto enter the blood-spatteredoffice, he said.

It was McCloskey'ssecond trip into the crime scene that day, the court has heard. He was one of several senior officers who had askedearlier to "view the body," said Smith, who hadn't finishedprocessing the scene yet but conceded in frustration.

During that trip in, McCloskey and the others were under Smith's supervision. He told them where they could walk and how far they could go.

McCloskey, who went on to become the deputy chief,testified at Oland'sfirst trial that when he went in again with Oram itwas out of "curiosity." Headmittedthat he went farther into the crime scene than previously directed by Smith, without wearing any protective gear, and was embarrassed.

McCloskey's conduct became the focus of a criminal investigation and professional conduct investigation because another officer testified he had urged him not to reveal he had been in the bloody crime scene.

Halifax Regional Police did not lay any charges. The New Brunswick Police Commission scheduled an arbitration hearing on the Police Act matter, but McCloskeyretired in April.The police watchdog only has the authority to discipline active officers.

Washroom used before testing

The trial also heard Friday at least two officers and a civilian used the washroom in the foyer outside the bloody office. Smith had not yet tested it for evidence.

Const. Chris McCutcheontestified he was assigned to guard the scene on July 10. Hearrived at 6:30 a.m. and remained in the foyer area for 12 hours and 23 minutes.

He used the toilet twice during that period, he said, and washed his hands in the sink.

"I understood that that washroom was outside of the scene area and thatI wouldn't be compromising the scene in any way shape or form by using the washroom," said McCutcheon, who only had only been on the job about seven months at that time andcurrently works for the major crime unit.

No one had instructed him otherwise, he said.

Const. George Prosser, who guarded the scene for about 12 hours on July 9,also testified to using the washroom likely more than once.

He said the victim's secretary's husband, Bill Adamson, also used the washroom that day.

The defence contends any trace of a blood-spatteredkiller cleaning upmay have been washed away.

Opened door 'negated' testing

The back door in the foyer,which the defence has argued would have been the preferred exit route of the "killer or killers"because it led to an alleyway,was never tested for evidence either because it was contaminated before Smith got to it, the retrial heard on Thursday.

Smith said he intended to dust the door for fingerprints and swab it for DNA after he finished processing the office. But by mid-afternoon, somebody had openedthe door,

"The door and the door latch had been handled, negating my plan" to test it, he said.

TheRCMPforensic lab was "not very willing" to take any touch DNA submissionsto begin with because of the low probability of getting any results, he explained.

"To aggravate that again, somebody else touching on top of the touch DNAthey probably would not have ever taken that at that point."

Smith was the only forensic officer available the day the body was discovered, the courtroom heard.Onehad a broken leg and was limited to desk duty, another was doing an understudy program with theRCMP'sforensic tech crimes unit, the third was off and the unit's newest member had not yet attended thebasic forensic training course.

He arrived at the scene shortly after 10 a.m., left around 10:40 a.m. to retrieve some equipment and supplies from the police station and returned around 11:20 a.m. He saw the back door each time and it was closed, he said.

Smith checked the door for any obvious signs of blood,forced entry or other evidence, but planned to examine it more thoroughly later.

"Did you touch that door in any fashion?" asked Crown prosecutor P.J. Veniot. "No I did not."

His primary focus, he said,was the "core" crime scene, which he had to photograph, fingerprint and swab.

He also helpedto remove the body from the bloody office, and escortedthe body tothe morgue at the Saint John Regional Hospital, where an autopsy was scheduled to be performed the following day.

When hereturned to the office, he noticed the back door was open.

"Did you find out who might have opened the door?" asked Veniot.

"No," replied Smith.

"Were you able todetermine if it was locked orunlocked?"

"I was notable todeterminethat."