GUILTY - Wayne Millard Murder Trial - Dellen Millard Charged With Murder - #4

[Kamille]

Why the hell does it take so long to decide

She has to present a full ruling of all the evidence that was considered or not considered and her reasons why, including citing case law where applicable. Her ruling will be combed over to search for issues for appeal by both sides depending on which way she rules. It will take some time to draft that up. Especially if she's also as busy as most other judges.

MOO

 

[nuff]

I’d agree, I’m impressed. If this was a case of another client who was the least bit deserving of defence, I’d go on to say Pillay appears to be an absolute brilliant attorney, regardless of the verdict.

I feel like the Crown really didn't bother to present a compelling case - Pillay was competent; he didn't need to be brilliant. Recalling the debate before this went to trial about whether it was worth the court time and resources to proceed against DM, it seems as if there was just a cursory effort put in to pulling together all the evidence needed to convict. Kind of wish now they hadn't gone ahead.

 

[clefk27]

I feel like the Crown really didn't bother to present a compelling case - Pillay was competent; he didn't need to be brilliant. Recalling the debate before this went to trial about whether it was worth the court time and resources to proceed against DM, it seems as if there was just a cursory effort put in to pulling together all the evidence needed to convict. Kind of wish now they hadn't gone ahead.

Or maybe this case was a loser from the start. TPS and coroner ruling it a suicide puts the Crown's case against reasonable doubt in jeopardy. Improper handling of evidence, lack of adherence to protocol in pictures, camera battery dying, possible moving of the body or bedsheets, etc. may have made this a near unwinnable case and Crown simply went through the motions.

 

[JuneBug67]

I feel like the Crown really didn't bother to present a compelling case - Pillay was competent; he didn't need to be brilliant. Recalling the debate before this went to trial about whether it was worth the court time and resources to proceed against DM, it seems as if there was just a cursory effort put in to pulling together all the evidence needed to convict. Kind of wish now they hadn't gone ahead.

I feel like there were some aspects of the Sutherland evidence that were unfortunate and avoidable. But it's part of the larger theme that the Crown had to work with what they had. They didn't have optimal police work, and are stuck with that. The financial and business records probably would have been more helpful to Pillay than the Crown given the early stage of the business, so I don't fault them for not going down that road. Better to show Wayne's hope and continued optimism for the business, which I think they did well.

I think murder should always be accounted for, always prosecuted where possible on behalf of society. Does anybody have reasonable doubt that Dellen Millard murdered his father? Not reasonable doubt that the high legal standard was met, but personal reasonable doubt? I expect that very few have personal doubt. This is a killer, killing his father in the middle of two other killings, with his ever present killer partner. This is exactly what any attentive person knows it to be, and it would be extremely remiss not to attempt to hold a person accountable for ending his own father's life. Dellen Millard found new and heinous ways to violate vulnerability and trust with each of his killings, and in some ways his own father is the most disgusting of all. In its own way, each of his murders is the most disgusting of all.

 

[Kamille]

"Wayne Millard was drowning," Pillay says. He's now pointing to his last email from 2:50 a.m., on Nov. 29. Pillay says this email, in which Millard is angry over a business issue, shows Millard was "unhinged."
by Adam Carter 3:33 PM

Pillay says this email shows Millard was in "emotional free fall."

"Wayne was disintegrating," Pillay says.
by Adam Carter 3:35 PM

Pillay says Wayne Millard was "desperate" and things were moving to "financial ruin."

"The business was sucking the life out of him. He wanted a way out, and he was falling apart," Pillay says.
by Adam Carter 3:38 PM

Talk about over the top theatrics. He got all this from an email? I would love to read that email.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Talk about over the top theatrics. He got all this from an email? I would love to read that email.

Nah... that's just Pillay being a drama queen again. He's got the role down pat, too.

 

[mimimic]

Arg I hate to say it but this is really the crux of it and I can't say that I disagree with RP here .

Thinking about it, though, in the absence of analysis and testing of the body and evidence at the scene (which was not done due to it being deemed a suicide right away) I'm finding it hard to think of ways in which it would be possible for the Crown to categorically disprove suicide. I'm having trouble sorting it out in my head, but to me it seems like the Crown's case has been more along the lines of presenting an alternate theory (with evidence to back it up) that seems to make way more sense than suicide. But can that work (be sufficient) even if they aren't able to show (even if it's because the evidence does not exist) beyond a reasonable doubt that a suicide did not occur?

Good question!

 

[JuneBug67]

Talk about over the top theatrics. He got all this from an email? I would love to read that email.

I thought it was a mistake to over-egg that particular pudding. A bad argument always weakens your overall narrative. Cameron did that a time or two as well. I was mildly shocked she used the word "conjure" in her argument. Magicians waving things into being is not a good look for prosecutors.

 

[mimimic]

I feel like the Crown really didn't bother to present a compelling case - Pillay was competent; he didn't need to be brilliant. Recalling the debate before this went to trial about whether it was worth the court time and resources to proceed against DM, it seems as if there was just a cursory effort put in to pulling together all the evidence needed to convict. Kind of wish now they hadn't gone ahead.

hmm, yeah why bother if that is so?

 

[JuneBug67]

I can't believe that the burden is on the Crown to prove that it could not possibly have been suicide. Almost anything is life is possible, but not everything is reasonable. It was possible that Laura walked out of her own life and fled to the United States to some unknown fate, but it certainly wasn't reasonable to think so. I'm hoping the principle is the same here.

 

[deugirtni]

If they put forth a defence, they close first.

Yes exactly, which is desired. I didn't realize that the Crown can still speak *after* the defence's closing argument when the defence's closing argument went last.

 

[MistyWaters]

I can't believe that the burden is on the Crown to prove that it could not possibly have been suicide. Almost anything is life is possible, but not everything is reasonable. It was possible that Laura walked out of her own life and fled to the United States to some unknown fate, but it certainly wasn't reasonable to think so. I'm hoping the principle is the same here.

The difference is a govt official (ie Coroner) signed off on the death file concluding suicide, as opposed to Undetermined. In order for that legal finding to be reversed, for the manner of death to be changed to Homicide, I do think the onus fairly falls upon the Crown to prove why it should be amended.

In our criminal justice system, every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty and without proof that a homicide occured, there can be no guilt.

To compare, in the case of LB, she was never errously verified to have been located.

JMO

 

[MistyWaters]

Millard shot father to escape future he didn't want, Crown tells murder trial
Decision is now in the hands of the judge at Dellen Millard's 1st-degree murder trial in Toronto

.....”With closing submissions finished, the case is now in the hands of the judge for a decision. Justice Maureen Forestell set a possible date of July 19 for her to return with a decision — but she also said it was more likely that the case could be put over until September because of her workload....”
Millard shot father to escape future he didn't want, prosecutor tells murder trial | CBC News

 

[Kamille]

The difference is a govt official (ie Coroner) signed off on the death file concluding suicide, as opposed to Undetermined. In order for that legal finding to be reversed, for the manner of death to be changed to Homicide, I do think the onus fairly falls upon the Crown to prove why it should be amended.

In our criminal justice system, every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty and without proof that a homicide occured, there can be no guilt.

To compare, in the case of LB, she was never errously verified to have been located.

JMO

I think it's pretty reasonable to conclude that no proper investigation was done to deem it a suicide either. And any reasonable person looking at the totality of the evidence provided, with no counter evidence to explain it, bearing in mind the complete incompetence of the responding LE and the coroner at the time of the death, should be able to come to the conclusion that it was a murder. A murder most likely committed by the person with the means, opportunity and motive, beyond a reasonable doubt.

MOO

 

[MistyWaters]

I think it's pretty reasonable to conclude that no proper investigation was done to deem it a suicide either. And any reasonable person looking at the totality of the evidence provided, with no counter evidence to explain it, bearing in mind the complete incompetence of the responding LE and the coroner at the time of the death, should be able to come to the conclusion that it was a murder. A murder most likely committed by the person with the means, opportunity and motive, beyond a reasonable doubt.

MOO

To me it should’ve been as simple as the Crown introducing evidence to support their suggestion that WM was indeed in a good frame of mind, such as financial records and health records to prove it.

 

[nuff]

I think murder should always be accounted for, always prosecuted where possible on behalf of society. Does anybody have reasonable doubt that Dellen Millard murdered his father? Not reasonable doubt that the high legal standard was met, but personal reasonable doubt? I expect that very few have personal doubt. This is a killer, killing his father in the middle of two other killings, with his ever present killer partner. This is exactly what any attentive person knows it to be, and it would be extremely remiss not to attempt to hold a person accountable for ending his own father's life. Dellen Millard found new and heinous ways to violate vulnerability and trust with each of his killings, and in some ways his own father is the most disgusting of all. In its own way, each of his murders is the most disgusting of all.

I agree. I wonder if it's at all possible that, if she acquits, the Justice's ruling might in fact say that while the evidence does not meet the standard of proof for a conviction, she feels it likely that DM murdered his father. I hate to see him have the satisfaction of thinking he fooled everyone.

 

[Kamille]

"The Crown theory ... really rests on what I would submit is a fundamental misunderstanding of what suicide is," Pillay said.

In his police interview on the night he says he discovered his father's body, Dellen Millard said his father was a drinker, and had long struggled with depression.

"He had depression in him … he carried some great sadness with him throughout life, but I never really knew what it was," Millard told police. "He never wanted to share it with me."

Though in a text message to his girlfriend at the time, Millard said, "He's always had depression, but he's never been suicidal. I've dealt with suicidal people, it doesn't fit."

Millard shot father to escape future he didn't want, prosecutor tells murder trial | CBC News

Funny how he says to his girlfriend in a text that his father has never been suicidal and it doesn't fit, but doesn't tell the investigating coroner and LE that or press for a proper investigation.

MOO

 

[Claroon]

Money was the motive here. SMDH.

I feel "control" was the motive. DM wanted full control.

 

[Claroon]

"A

Cameron says there are other "curious things" Millard did when he says he found his father's body -- like not touching his father's body, and not trying to perform CPR. "I submit he would have touched him in some way," Cameron said. "Well the paramedic didn't touch him either," the judge interjects. She has jumped in on Cameron's closing several times.
by Adam Carter 11:11 AM

Cameron says this is "very strange behaviour" that "conjures up a feeling of guilt ... It's just another odd and unnatural thing to do when one finds his father dead."
by Adam Carter 11:12 AM


She also says it doesn't make sense for Millard to call his mother before calling 911.
by Adam Carter 11:13 AM

bbm Deugirtni looks like she got your point of view from your post lol.

 

[Claroon]

Cameron is now pointing to statements Millard made to police that she says were false. One is the location of his dog, Pedo. The other is about "sometimes sleeping at Mark's."
by Adam Carter 11:14 AM

by Adam Carter 11:17 AM

lol looks like she got my point too from my post about pedo. That's what I love about this.