Laura Babcock Murder Trial 12.05.17 - Closing Arguments - Day 1

[EspressoBean]

Millard reminds the jury the Crown called a border control expert that said Babcock had never crossed the American border.

"Why only check the US?" he asks. He repeats a phrase he's said several times today. "It's an absence of evidence."



by Shannon Martin 4:13 PM

Maybe because there is no evidence at all to suggest that she would have gone to Montreal?! Perhaps because this young woman was still well connected to family and friends and active on social media. This was a young woman who spoke quite openly and unabashedly about significant mental health issues so one could easily "infer" that she would have told someone....more likely many people, that she was planning to relocate - something well within her rights to do if she chose. She was not a child who would be retrieved and brought home but could go live somewhere on her own accord. This was a young woman who sought out connections and did not cut them off. So, we can easily infer that she did not go anywhere else but that her life was ended by you, the last person she contacted.
JMO, of course!

 

[Jasper52]

*advertiser censored* has insulted this jury with just about every sentence out of his mouth today.

 

[Kamille]

Well he's not trying to blame MS for this one anyway. So I wonder if TD will continue with this train of thought. LB is not dead, she went to Montreal and then on to parts unknown. Of course she also told DM that she was marrying a rich man and told her Uncle that she was dating a pilot/photographer who was going to take her travelling as well.

MOO

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏
@HefCHCHNews
4m4 minutes ago
Millard is now reading the police interview Shawn Lerner gave, in which he was confused about the dates #LauraBabcock had last been seen or heard from.

 

[Kamille]

Millard is now showing the jury a transcript of Shawn Lerner's police interview on May 13, 2013.

Lerner was Babcock's former boyfriend, who remained a close friend.

Lerner had started his own investigation into Babcock's disappearance. In the interview, he takes officers through some of the last people Babcock had contact with. He's talking about Bradley Dean - who Millard brought up this morning - who thought he saw Babcock on July 10, 2012. Dean later corrected in police interviews, and in the witness box at this trial, that he was mistaken. He did not see Babcock July 10, 2012. He explained he was dating multiple women that summer.

Millard stays on Dean, who he spent considerable time on this morning.


by Shannon Martin 4:21 PM

 

[Ashley96]

Please let this end....:facepalm:

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏
@HefCHCHNews
1m1 minute ago
Millard is reading another agreed statement of fact... he's focused on #LauraBabcock's work as an escort, and how she'd meet dates at Hemingways in Yorkville. "It's up to you to decide if Bradley Dean was being honest," but #Millard thinks he saw LB on July 10th.

 

[EspressoBean]

I wonder if there is a legal professional here who can clarify but I believe that if the defense had not called any witnesses, the crown would be giving their closing statements first. I am almost certain that the order only changes if the defense opens their case.
If so, DM can't really complain about the unfairness in having to go first when it was his actions that affected this......albeit, DM would always be before MS.

 

[Kamille]

Millard on Dean, "Don't look at one piece of evidence isolated... make a decision based on everything. It's up to you to decide. I make the inference that he did see Laura at Hemingway's on July 10th."


by Shannon Martin 4:26 PM

Good advice DM.

 

[dar107]

Ya, seems the Jury ain't having it DM. I don't think they like you

 

[Kamille]

I wonder if there is a legal professional here who can clarify but I believe that if the defense had not called any witnesses, the crown would be giving their closing statements first. I am almost certain that the order only changes if the defense opens their case.
If so, DM can't really complain about the unfairness in having to go first when it was his actions that affected this......albeit, DM would always be before MS.

Not a professional by any means but in Canada that is correct. If DM had not called evidence or presented a case, the closing would have been Crown, DM and then MS. DM was always going to go before MS because his name is first in the indictment.

ETA: Ironically it was MS who caused the same sequence in the TB trial.

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
2m2 minutes ago
Photo of ID and credit cards found in #Millard's vehicle upon arrest. Some were for company purchases. Shane Schlatman had a red one for business use.

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
21s22 seconds ago
Millard has emails about the incinerator. July 12, Shane Schlatman is trying to get incinerator ready. Millard would ask Schlatman to work late, or through the weekend, if the work was a rush and important. In this case, Schlatman gets four days off.

 

[EspressoBean]

Millard on Dean, "Don't look at one piece of evidence isolated... make a decision based on everything. It's up to you to decide. I make the inference that he did see Laura at Hemingway's on July 10th."


by Shannon Martin 4:26 PM

Good advice DM.

Inferred from one police statement. He met up with her July 10ths despite there being no phone use days prior to this and no message history to show that she was switching phone numbers when she had contact with Dean on her phone prior to this time. There is no inference here. He is just saying to believe Dean's first statement, not his second.

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
2m2 minutes ago
The police investigation began May of 2013, and Shawn Lerner's investigation was a good 10 months prior, he says. Millard says anyone who says they saw Laura, it was when there was no investigation. "How many more people may have had leads, if there'd been an investigation?"

 

[EspressoBean]

So an easy defense would be to provide the information about the advertising, DM had claimed he made for the use of the incinerator. Provide some information about the jobs he had lined up - call up some witnesses. I can't see that being very difficult! Then we might be able to INFER that there was some other use for this incinerator and a need for a rushed completion. *sigh*

 

[Jasper52]

Ya, seems the Jury ain't having it DM. I don't think they like you

Why the frown? I hope the Jurors despise DM and grant LB the justice she so rightfully deserves.

 

[Kamille]

Millard says the investigation for Babcock's disappearance began in May 2013, while Lerner started his investigation in early July 2012.

"All those people who saw Laura, saw her in that time period," he says, ten months he points out.

"How many more people who may have had leads on where Laura went, had there been investigation been underway? How much more useful would that be to my defence? We don't know the answer."

Millard says, "Police were less interested in finding where Laura went, than in securing a conviction and building a case for court."




by Shannon Martin 4:35 PM

 

[DeaconBrodie]

Not a professional by any means but in Canada that is correct. If DM had not called evidence or presented a case, the closing would have been Crown, DM and then MS. DM was always going to go before MS because his name is first in the indictment.

ETA: Ironically it was MS who caused the same sequence in the TB last trial.

Correct and DM always goes first because indictments are always done alphabetically in order to not allow the Crown to choose the order of the defence to their advantage..

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
2m2 minutes ago
How much more evidence useful to my defence would have been dug up if the investigation had been timely? We don't know, #Millard says. His position is that police were not worried about #LauraBabcock, they were worried about securing a conviction in this case.

Lisa Hepfner‏
@HefCHCHNews
1m1 minute ago
I think I just saw a juror roll his eyes, when Millard said people can get new phone numbers when they get new phones.

 

[Kamille]

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
2m2 minutes ago
Why is it not worth checking any other countries? So basically, Millard is saying this trial isn't about #LauraBabcock. It's about him.

Lisa Hepfner‏ @HefCHCHNews
1m1 minute ago
Millard says there's no evidence of murder or even Laura's death. "The evidence of animus" he says is in one text message conversation between #LauraBabcock and Christina Noudga