Nor did I. Plus the witness was presenting both sides of the conversation, which I would have thought was hearsay in terms of what KS allegedly said. (Not that I am in any way in doubt of the defendant's guilt, but there appears to be much stronger direct evidence.) It will be interesting to see what happens in court today.
GUILTY Canada - Tess Richey, 22, Toronto, 25 Nov 2017 *Arrest*
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Nor did I. Plus the witness was presenting both sides of the conversation, which I would have thought was hearsay in terms of what KS allegedly said. (Not that I am in any way in doubt of the defendant's guilt, but there appears to be much stronger direct evidence.) It will be interesting to see what happens in court today.
siliconrod
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NewSleuth77
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This is my first post on websleuths. Exciting! I find it a bit crazy that the headlines on day 2 of the trial stated that Kalen appeared too break down when photos of Tess were shown in court then 2 days later the UC cop said Kalen told him he pulled the exact same act when first arrested... Does the defence not have a good idea of the evidence being presented with disclosure? Seems they were not prepared at all for what was coming considering the judge dismissed court so early today saying they were not ready for cross examination.
evilwise
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This suspect doesn't come across like a killer and furthermore it seems the local police did just as shaky a job accumulating the evidence against him as they did in searching for Tess. It does seem quite likely that he's the perp but I think he's also pretty close on his 50-50 estimate of his odds at being convicted.
siliconrod
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tess-richey-kalen-schlatter-1.5455862
Adam Carter · CBC News · Posted: Feb 07, 2020
''Kalen Schlatter's defence lawyer attempted to sow seeds of doubt about the memory of a key Crown witness in court Friday as Schlatter's first-degree murder trial in the death of Toronto woman Tess Richey continues.
Lawyer Lydia Riva cross-examined an undercover Toronto police officer who spent hours talking with Schlatter right after his arrest in February of 2018. The officer testified earlier this week that Schlatter boasted about his ability to pick up women and talked about the case against him while the two were locked up next to each other.
Riva repeatedly questioned the undercover officer's recall of information. He testified from behind a large screen to protect his identity from the body of the court.
"I take it, officer, it would have been preferable for you to record the conversation for your memory, correct?" Riva asked.
"A recorded conversation would have been ideal, definitely," the officer responded. No reason was given as to why the conversation was not recorded.''
''At one point Friday, Riva zeroed in on Schlatter's "boasting" about his prowess with women. The officer testified earlier this week that Schlatter said he had "slept with over 40 women" at only 21 years old, and said he could tell the undercover cops "his secrets."
"That's when Mr. Schlatter starts speaking about having foursomes, and sex with more than one woman at a time on college campuses, and with random girls, and that girls beg him to sleep with them," the officer previously said.''
''At one point during her questions, Riva said her client "self-identifies as bisexual," and asked the officer if he was aware of a video that shows Schlatter kissing and dancing with another man at Crews and Tangos, which is the bar Richey attended on the night she vanished. The officer said no, he wasn't. That video has not been shown in court.''
Adam Carter · CBC News · Posted: Feb 07, 2020
''Kalen Schlatter's defence lawyer attempted to sow seeds of doubt about the memory of a key Crown witness in court Friday as Schlatter's first-degree murder trial in the death of Toronto woman Tess Richey continues.
Lawyer Lydia Riva cross-examined an undercover Toronto police officer who spent hours talking with Schlatter right after his arrest in February of 2018. The officer testified earlier this week that Schlatter boasted about his ability to pick up women and talked about the case against him while the two were locked up next to each other.
Riva repeatedly questioned the undercover officer's recall of information. He testified from behind a large screen to protect his identity from the body of the court.
"I take it, officer, it would have been preferable for you to record the conversation for your memory, correct?" Riva asked.
"A recorded conversation would have been ideal, definitely," the officer responded. No reason was given as to why the conversation was not recorded.''
''At one point Friday, Riva zeroed in on Schlatter's "boasting" about his prowess with women. The officer testified earlier this week that Schlatter said he had "slept with over 40 women" at only 21 years old, and said he could tell the undercover cops "his secrets."
"That's when Mr. Schlatter starts speaking about having foursomes, and sex with more than one woman at a time on college campuses, and with random girls, and that girls beg him to sleep with them," the officer previously said.''
''At one point during her questions, Riva said her client "self-identifies as bisexual," and asked the officer if he was aware of a video that shows Schlatter kissing and dancing with another man at Crews and Tangos, which is the bar Richey attended on the night she vanished. The officer said no, he wasn't. That video has not been shown in court.''
siliconrod
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gremlingrrl
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MANDEL: Chilling last seconds of Tess Richey’s life
Feb 12 2020
''Jurors were first shown surveillance from outside the Crews and Tangos drag bar where Schlatter arrived at about 11:40 p.m. on Nov. 24. Dressed in a T-shirt and tan pants, he can then be seen chatting and laughing inside the busy club.
According to an undercover police officer later placed in his holding cell, Schlatter boasted that gay bars were the perfect hunting ground for hooking up with girls.''
''Wearing black pants and high heeled boots, the curly-haired young woman stops at the entrance to open her big pink purse for security before heading in, thanking the man who holds the door for her with a friendly smile and a pat on his shoulder.''
''The jury has also been shown video surveillance of another man that the defence appears to be introducing as an alternate suspect — wearing a light-coloured baseball cap, the same man can be seen standing outside Crews and Tangos, at the bank machine at Church and Wellesley and again passing Schlatter, Simard and Richey on the opposite side of Dundonald at about 3:20 a.m.
Another possible suspect is crucial to the defence.''
''The trial continues next week''.
Feb 12 2020
''Jurors were first shown surveillance from outside the Crews and Tangos drag bar where Schlatter arrived at about 11:40 p.m. on Nov. 24. Dressed in a T-shirt and tan pants, he can then be seen chatting and laughing inside the busy club.
According to an undercover police officer later placed in his holding cell, Schlatter boasted that gay bars were the perfect hunting ground for hooking up with girls.''
''Wearing black pants and high heeled boots, the curly-haired young woman stops at the entrance to open her big pink purse for security before heading in, thanking the man who holds the door for her with a friendly smile and a pat on his shoulder.''
''The jury has also been shown video surveillance of another man that the defence appears to be introducing as an alternate suspect — wearing a light-coloured baseball cap, the same man can be seen standing outside Crews and Tangos, at the bank machine at Church and Wellesley and again passing Schlatter, Simard and Richey on the opposite side of Dundonald at about 3:20 a.m.
Another possible suspect is crucial to the defence.''
''The trial continues next week''.
gremlingrrl
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I believe trial coverage via verified MSM media accounts on Twitter is ok.
Here's a link to Alyshah Hasham's Toronto Star article, which is being updated daily.
(The Star does have a paywall - I'm a subscriber. I don't recall if they still allow free access to a limited # of stories each month. They may have scrapped that.)
What’s happened so far at the trial of the man accused of Tess Richey’s murder? | The Star
Accused in murder trial can be seen but not heard in jailhouse videos | The Star
By Rosie DiMannoStar ColumnistMon., Feb. 10, 2020
''A cell, a cot, a metal basin and a toilet.
Most people will never see the inside of a holding cell, fortunately.
What a jury saw on Monday morning was a seemingly endless montage of silent videotape of Kalen Schlatter in custody at 13 Division.
Schlatter sitting, Schlatter standing, Schlatter lying down, Schlatter removing his jacket and using it as a pillow. Schlatter covering himself with a blanket. Schlatter thrice getting on his knees, curiously, to urinate into the bowl.
But crucially — which seemed to be the point of this voyeuristic exercise — Schlatter clearly speaking to someone who can’t be seen, at times gesticulating animatedly. That ongoing conversation, the court has heard, was with an undercover police officer in the next cell, and a second undercover police officer in a third cell further down: UC1 and UC2.
The three men aren’t visible to each other but they can talk easily enough, which they did from 4:10 a.m. to 8:25 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2018, just after the cell door was clanged shut on Schlatter by a pair of booking officers.
Twenty video clips lasting between one and eight minutes were shown to the jurors Monday. Nothing much happens in them. But while there’s ample footage indicating exchanges between the arrestee and the cops, no audio apparently exists. Nobody has yet explained the why of that.''
''In his evidence under direct questioning from the prosecution, UC1 drew a picture of an exceedingly chatty Schlatter, at first drawn into discussion about board and card games, in particular Magic: The Gathering. Then segueing, without much prompting, into boastfulness about his alleged prowess with women — claiming he’d had sex with more than 40, sometimes in twosomes and foursomes, and he was still only 21 years old. He frequented gay bars because random straight girls could always be found there. And he posed nude for an art class, adding he wasn’t shy about being seen naked because he was “big” — as in well-endowed.''
By Rosie DiMannoStar ColumnistMon., Feb. 10, 2020
''A cell, a cot, a metal basin and a toilet.
Most people will never see the inside of a holding cell, fortunately.
What a jury saw on Monday morning was a seemingly endless montage of silent videotape of Kalen Schlatter in custody at 13 Division.
Schlatter sitting, Schlatter standing, Schlatter lying down, Schlatter removing his jacket and using it as a pillow. Schlatter covering himself with a blanket. Schlatter thrice getting on his knees, curiously, to urinate into the bowl.
But crucially — which seemed to be the point of this voyeuristic exercise — Schlatter clearly speaking to someone who can’t be seen, at times gesticulating animatedly. That ongoing conversation, the court has heard, was with an undercover police officer in the next cell, and a second undercover police officer in a third cell further down: UC1 and UC2.
The three men aren’t visible to each other but they can talk easily enough, which they did from 4:10 a.m. to 8:25 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2018, just after the cell door was clanged shut on Schlatter by a pair of booking officers.
Twenty video clips lasting between one and eight minutes were shown to the jurors Monday. Nothing much happens in them. But while there’s ample footage indicating exchanges between the arrestee and the cops, no audio apparently exists. Nobody has yet explained the why of that.''
''In his evidence under direct questioning from the prosecution, UC1 drew a picture of an exceedingly chatty Schlatter, at first drawn into discussion about board and card games, in particular Magic: The Gathering. Then segueing, without much prompting, into boastfulness about his alleged prowess with women — claiming he’d had sex with more than 40, sometimes in twosomes and foursomes, and he was still only 21 years old. He frequented gay bars because random straight girls could always be found there. And he posed nude for an art class, adding he wasn’t shy about being seen naked because he was “big” — as in well-endowed.''
evilwise
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On the subject of jailhouse information and whether it's considered hearsay or not, the law in Canada is much looser than the law in the US. I'm pretty much always surprised just how much so every time I dip into it.
In the US, it's pretty likely the admissibility of those statements would be challenged. Self-incriminating statements are more or less always expected to be recorded here. In cases where statements are not recorded, there will almost always need be corroborating physical evidence and even that is beginning to be challenged since the "jailhouse informant" culture has been shown to be spiraling. Convicts with nothing but time on their hands and increasing indoctrination into the legal system can engineer information that while actually false or mostly false might tend to be supported by physical evidence they may also be aware of unbeknownst to investigators who may not even know where that information originally came from.
In Canada, the current law is simply that if hearsay is "reliable and necessary" it is admissible. A law enforcement officer is automatically presumed reliable and since it places Schlatter at the scene of the crime it can be considered necessary so it's admissible, period. Never mind the additional context of his supposed coldness about Tess's death being in conflict with his reactions in court and during official questioning. I've had girls I've made passing contact with end up dead and I would definitely have different reactions to it in casual conversation with my peers than I would if presented with details of their final moments and photos of their decomposing corpses.
Of course, in none of those cases was I anywhere near or in any possible way involved in their deaths so I can't say how that might have effected my perspective or attitude in either conversation and in cases where I was initially identified as a person of interest (internally to the investigation) I was quickly eliminated as an actual suspect. I don't know how much my reaction to that initial police contact contributed to the elimination versus the pure facts but I feel pretty damn sure that if I was taken into custody any statements I made anywhere would have been recorded.
It's a shame the jury in this case, in the year 2020, is being denied the opportunity to directly evaluate Schlatter's jail cell statements - a second clear failing of law enforcement on top of the poor initial search effort (I suspect Tess's mother moved the body before the scene was investigated). This is a case built on circumstantial evidence and in that sort of case, the jury's perception of the defendant's character is crucial. That circumstantial evidence is strong but as I said before this twiddly nerd really does not seem like a killer. I certainly wouldn't be afraid alone in a dark alley with him and if I was a juror I think I could pretty easily be convinced there was reasonable doubt that he killed her as opposed to her maybe just drunkenly falling down the stairs.
In the US, it's pretty likely the admissibility of those statements would be challenged. Self-incriminating statements are more or less always expected to be recorded here. In cases where statements are not recorded, there will almost always need be corroborating physical evidence and even that is beginning to be challenged since the "jailhouse informant" culture has been shown to be spiraling. Convicts with nothing but time on their hands and increasing indoctrination into the legal system can engineer information that while actually false or mostly false might tend to be supported by physical evidence they may also be aware of unbeknownst to investigators who may not even know where that information originally came from.
In Canada, the current law is simply that if hearsay is "reliable and necessary" it is admissible. A law enforcement officer is automatically presumed reliable and since it places Schlatter at the scene of the crime it can be considered necessary so it's admissible, period. Never mind the additional context of his supposed coldness about Tess's death being in conflict with his reactions in court and during official questioning. I've had girls I've made passing contact with end up dead and I would definitely have different reactions to it in casual conversation with my peers than I would if presented with details of their final moments and photos of their decomposing corpses.
Of course, in none of those cases was I anywhere near or in any possible way involved in their deaths so I can't say how that might have effected my perspective or attitude in either conversation and in cases where I was initially identified as a person of interest (internally to the investigation) I was quickly eliminated as an actual suspect. I don't know how much my reaction to that initial police contact contributed to the elimination versus the pure facts but I feel pretty damn sure that if I was taken into custody any statements I made anywhere would have been recorded.
It's a shame the jury in this case, in the year 2020, is being denied the opportunity to directly evaluate Schlatter's jail cell statements - a second clear failing of law enforcement on top of the poor initial search effort (I suspect Tess's mother moved the body before the scene was investigated). This is a case built on circumstantial evidence and in that sort of case, the jury's perception of the defendant's character is crucial. That circumstantial evidence is strong but as I said before this twiddly nerd really does not seem like a killer. I certainly wouldn't be afraid alone in a dark alley with him and if I was a juror I think I could pretty easily be convinced there was reasonable doubt that he killed her as opposed to her maybe just drunkenly falling down the stairs.
Murder trial continues for man accused of sexually assaulting, strangling 22-year-old Tess Richey
Feb 18 2020 rbbm.
''The trial for the man accused of sexually assaulting and strangling 22-year-old Tess Richey to death in the city's Church-Wellesley Village in 2017 is set to resume today in a Toronto courtroom.
Kalen Schlatter, 23, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Richey's death, which occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2017.''
''The trial is expected to resume at 10 a.m.''
Feb 18 2020 rbbm.
''The trial for the man accused of sexually assaulting and strangling 22-year-old Tess Richey to death in the city's Church-Wellesley Village in 2017 is set to resume today in a Toronto courtroom.
Kalen Schlatter, 23, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Richey's death, which occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2017.''
''The trial is expected to resume at 10 a.m.''
https://sasknow.com/2020/02/19/forensic-pathologist-who-examined-tess-richey-testifies-at-trial/
''Feb 19, 2020
TORONTO — A forensic pathologist who examined Tess Richey’s body says she quickly saw signs that suggested the young woman had been strangled.
Dr. Kona Williams is telling a Toronto court that broken blood vessels inside Richey’s eyelids and on her neck raised the possibility of manual or ligature strangulation.''
''Feb 19, 2020
TORONTO — A forensic pathologist who examined Tess Richey’s body says she quickly saw signs that suggested the young woman had been strangled.
Dr. Kona Williams is telling a Toronto court that broken blood vessels inside Richey’s eyelids and on her neck raised the possibility of manual or ligature strangulation.''
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