Dennis Oland's 2nd-degree murder trial in death of father begins

The second-degree murder trial ofDennis Oland in the death of his father, Richard Oland,begins today in Saint John, more than four years after the prominent businessman'sbody was discovered in his uptownoffice.

The judge and jury trialis expectedto last about 65 days and hear from dozens of witnesses.

• Live blog:Dennis Oland's second-degree murder trial coverage

Dennis Oland, 46,pleaded not guilty last week, when he wasformally arraigned at Harbour Station, which served as amakeshift courtroom to accommodate more than 1,000 prospective jurors on the first day of jury selection.

The Oland family is well-known in the Maritimes. Itowns Moosehead Breweries Limited, the oldest independently owned brewery in Canada. Richard Oland left the company in the 1980s, but was an accomplished businessman, who was appointedan Officer of the Order of Canadafor his efforts as an entrepreneur with a social conscience.

Justice John Walsh, of the Court of Queen's Bench, has been brought in fromMiramichito hear the high-profile case.

Fourteenjurors and two alternates were sworn in last week nine men and seven women.

Normally, juries consist of 12 members, but more are needed in this casedue to the length of the trial, which increases the chances someone will get sick or beunable to serve for another reason.

A minimum of 10 jurors is required to deliver a verdict and the decision must be unanimous.

'A-team' lawyers

RichardOland, 69, was found dead in hisinvestment firm office, Far EndCorp., locatedon Canterbury Street,on July 7, 2011.

DennisOland, his only son,was arrested more than two years later, on Nov. 12, 2013, and charged the following day.

He was ordered last December to stand trial, following a preliminary inquiry.

Several pre-trial hearings have been held in recent months, but the details about them are subject to a publication ban.

Oland is being represented by Alan Gold, of Toronto, and Gary Miller, of Fredericton.

Retired prosecutorPaul (P.J.)Veniot took over as thelead Crown last month after John Henhefferhad to step down for health reasons. The prosecution team also includesPatrick Wilbur and Derek Weaver.

"Big murder trials like this, they're pretty rare and it's certainly not junior people doing them," said Nicole O'Byrne, an associate law professor at the University of New Brunswick.

"You've got a really experienced and deep defence team and you've got a prosecutor who's been around a long time. So this is the elite, right? You've got the A-teams out."

Case will unfold 'bit by bit'

The onus is on the Crown to prove guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt.

O'Byrne says the jurors will be presentedwith a huge amount of information spread out over a long period of time. She encourages them to take notes and to "look at it as a marathon instead of a sprint.

"Every day there will be new pieces of evidence coming forward and they all go bit by bit into a very large story in front of them," said O'Byrne.

"They should keep their mind open that they're not going to have an 'aha' moment on Day 3. It's going to be cumulativeand then they will, at the end of everything once they've seen the prosecutor's evidence, once they've heard the arguments from the defencethen they will be sequestered, go into deliberations" and deliver a verdict.

Oland'sextended family has stood by him from the beginning, maintaining his innocence.

About 5,000 people in Saint John and Kings counties had been summonsed for possible jury duty in the case, making it one of the largest if not the largest jury pools in New Brunswick history.

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