Pillay is again showing photos of one of Millard's blankets from the scene. There's blood on the edge of one of them. He says this shows "the blanket was in play in some way in the scene." "This evidence is critical," Pillay says.
by Adam Carter 12:50 PM
I can understand why he is trying to discredit this.
As far as excepting the agreed upon phone pings> did they do this so there wasn't as much discussion around it? "Like pulling the wool over the courts."
He keeps bringing up things that are completely outside the scope of Sutherland's testing and therefore outside the scope of the evidence he presented... He was tasked with reconstructing the position of the gun... not analyzing other items on the scene.
Also, according to Pillay himself, since the scene was "contaminated", and the photos can't be trusted, how can he know for sure that there was in fact blood on the blanket? He's contradicting himself IMO - saying the evidence is inadmissible because it is not "scientific" then in the next breath saying Sutherland missed a bunch of evidence (which according to him would be equally unscientific anyway).
I think Pillay just is listing all the reasons the reconstuction evidence should be tossed, it’s not a personal thing against Sutherland.
In one sense, it’s an attempt by the Crown to erase the original botched investigation “look, that didn’t matter whatsoever, from the photos our expert can determine it wasn’t a suicide after all!”. I feel somewhat uncomfortable about that given all the variables, along with the possibility this type of evidence sets a precedence in future trials.
The intial police investigation was compete incompetence by Toronto Police. At least that is what I am gathering by following this trial. The simple idea that DM was showing no emotional response to the death of his father and the fact that there was gun in the room and the inconsistent testimonies of whether the anything was touched in the room. I am more disappointed with the Toronto Police more than anything and they messed the whole thing up but not looking further into the death of WM
I can see Pillay making every effort to make his case, in these arguments. Not sure it will take all day, but he'll do whatever he can.
I am very curious if he's going to call any defense witnesses. I'm guessing no, since it doesn't seem like there is anyone at all in the last 10 years or so associated with DM that isn't sketchy and/or questionable themselves.
I fully agree but I still don't understand what you meant when you said The police investigation was clearly influenced by the previous trials. What am I missing?
I feel that RP could have avoided this whole argument by finding his own expert to run the tests to prove his theory that WM ended his own life by shooting the gun. But clearly, this was impossible so all he can do is try to "shoot down" the crown's expert.
I'm guessing DM was too cheap to fork out the big bucks for his own expert testimony.
Although not my statement, I agree with it. Had DM not been charged and convicted of the 2 other murders, would there be cause to have reopened WMs death by suicide file? I don’t think so. There doesn’t appear to be any additional or new evidence other than what existed back in Nov/12.
Exactly. That statement makes no sense. DM was charged in April 2014 with WM's murder Dellen Millard now charged in deaths of his father and missing woman and the first trial (Tim's) didn't begin until early 2016If I recall correctly, DM was charged with WM's murder in, I think, April 2014. DM hadn't been convicted of anything at that point, only charged. That's why I'm asking for clarification about the poster's comment.
Thanks redheart. I started to think I was losing my mind!Exactly. That statement makes no sense. DM was charged in April 2014 with WM's murder Dellen Millard now charged in deaths of his father and missing woman and the first trial (Tim's) didn't begin until early 2016
DM probably did't want to spend the money....again a little levity.