trial thread: 3/30/2012

[matou]

‏ @AM980_Court

• Showing photos taken from the rock pile.

 

[matou]

@AM980_Court

• Next photos showing the rock pile. Various angles.

 

[Juris_Prudence]

My impression was that TLM said she walked away from the car when MR was doing the rapes and observed the silos and broken fence from that new vantage point.

If those landmarks are only visible after walking a distance away from the car.....and are not viewable from the car, the rockpile, or the route in betwen, then it strenghtens her testimony that she must have walked away from the car, and it doesn't fit with the defense theory that it was MR who walked away and came back.

If the landmarks are visible from anywhere.........there is no proof she ever walked away from the car.

What if she took time just before, or just after she murdered Tori to take in her surroundings? Whether or not she can / did describe the area perfectly does not convince me that MR is guilty of sexual assault. It does however convince me that TLM told at least a partial truth: that she took in her surroundings. :moo:

 

[Sailor Bug]

Crown warns again of disturbing imagery to come Court recesses until 2:10 pm

Scoyne's upcoming photos will be upsetting, Carnegie warns. Suggests taking a break. Justice Heeney agrees.

 

[matou]

@RaffertyLFP

• Crown warns again of disturbing imagery to come Court recesses until 2:10 pm

 

[Wondergirl]

‏ @LindaNguyenPN

• #Rafferty appears tired. He shows no emotion while listening to Scoyne's evidence; was scowling somewhat during Smyth's time on the stand

Okay, so he was scowling at Smyth.

 

[Wondergirl]

12:35
RaffertyLFP:


Scoyne said hundreds of images were taken of crime scene - 5,000 images taken in whole investigation

 

[matou]

@AM980_Court

• Scoyne's upcoming photos will be upsetting, Carnegie warns. Suggests taking a break. Justice Heeney agrees.

 

[Sailor Bug]

‏ @LindaNguyenPN

• #Rafferty appears tired. He shows no emotion while listening to Scoyne's evidence; was scowling somewhat during Smyth's time on the stand

What the hell is he scowling at...he WAS there!!

scowl (skoul)
v. scowled, scowl·ing, scowls
v.intr.
To wrinkle or contract the brow as an expression of anger or disapproval. See Synonyms at frown.
v.tr.
To express with a frowning facial expression.
n.
A look of anger or frowning disapproval.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/scowling

 

[matou]

Tori Stafford trial: OPP officer tells how he found body in a garbage bag

Ontario Provincial Police Det.-Staff Sgt. James Smyth told the court he was driving to Woodstock on July 19, 2009 when he decided to take a detour and go through Mount Forest,

http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/news/story.html?id=6385157

 

[Wondergirl]

New details here (I think). It was Smyth who re-interviewed TLM in January 2012.

Det. Staff-Sgt. Smyth was a linchpin in the Stafford investigation, and has taken a lead role in many others.

Deploying the same friendly informality that the next year would snare serial killer Russell Williams, he had coaxed from a distraught Ms. McClintic a graphic, hours-long account of Tori's rape and death. Eleven months later she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and at age 21 is now serving life imprisonment.

And in that confession to Det.-Sgt. Smyth, she stated plainly that while she had assisted in almost every way, the murder itself was committed by Mr. Rafferty.
In January of this year, however, Ms. McClintic drastically revised the most crucial detail of her story, telling a counsellor at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, the federal prison in Kitchener where she is incarcerated, that in fact she wielded the hammer that killed Tori.

The counsellor apprised police, and the next day Ms. McClintic was brought to the Waterloo police station, where she repeated this new version of events to Det.-Sgt. Smyth.

Asked why she was speaking up now, she told him that it was because she didn't want to testify at Mr. Rafferty's upcoming trial.

Why not, Det.-Sgt. Smyth asked, adding that whether she wanted to testify in court or not, she would have to do so.

Ms. McClintic replied that Mr. Rafferty was not guilty of murder and should not be imprisoned for something he did not do.

But in her trial evidence this month, she seemed to shift position yet again, asserting that although she inflicted the fatal blows, both she and Mr. Rafferty were both responsible for Tori's dreadful death.

“I'm not the only guilty person here,” she testified.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ords-body-rafferty-trial-told/article2387154/

 

[Ardy]

What if she took time just before, or just after she murdered Tori to take in her surroundings? Whether or not she can / did describe the area perfectly does not convince me that MR is guilty of sexual assault. It does however convince me that TLM told at least a partial truth: that she took in her surroundings. :moo:

The defense theory was that TLM asked MR to stop the car and leave so she could talk to VS privately. The defense intimated that MR was the one who left the car and walked away and then came back and was horrified that TLM had murdered VS.

If the landmarks described in detail by TLM are only visible by moving a distance away from the car, and are not viewable from positions that we know TLM was at, then the defense theory has a big problem.

On the other hand, if the landmarks are easily viewable from vantage points we know TLM was, the certainty of the Crown case is weakened.

 

[Ardy]

Man..........TLM just keeps slip sliding around, doesn't she.

I think she likes all the attention, and enjoys the opportunity to jerk the police and everyone else around.

She didn't want him to go to jail for something he didn't do?

What else didn't he do, I wonder.

 

[Ardy]

I was thinking that I sure hope that TLM doesn't have any access to the media, where she can follow the testimony and evidence, because if something comes up that shows her testimony wasn't truthful..............she could talk to a counselor and recant more of her testimony.

 

[Ardy]

One time she says he did it, then she says she doesn't want him to go to jail for something he didn't do, and then she says he is a monster and should go to jail.........wow.......all I can say is forget all of her testimony except those parts which are proven to be true by corroborating evidence.

That is why what she could see from which vantage point is so important.

To see if it supports her testimony.

 

[Sailor Bug]

Support Tori's Law http://www.change.org/petitions/tori-s-law Reinstate the death penalty for child killers

 

[antiquegirl]

AM980.ca‏@AM980_Court

Police decided finding Tori's body was more important than getting more information from McClintic Did not find Tori that night. Left at 8pm

London Free Press‏@RaffertyLFP

After her confession McClintic offered to help find Tori's body. Smyth said they moved quickly, not knowing how long she would co-operate

Aside from trying to find Tori's body quickly, I have to assume that their haste was also due to worry that at any moment TLM could decide to lawyer up.

JMO

 

[~n/t~]

Thanks for the updates everyone! My thoughts and prayers are with Rodney and Tara. Are they there today? I didn't see a tweet. Having to listen to this testimony and the graphic details of finding Tori's body in a bag thrown out like trash must be unbearable. Even the detectives after 3 years get choked up like many of us here.

Wonder if the sexual assault testimony will come out this afternoon.

:tears:

 

[daisy.faithfull]

Thanks for the updates everyone! My thoughts and prayers are with Rodney and Tara. Are they there today? I didn't see a tweet. Having to listen to this testimony and the graphic details of finding Tori's body in a bag thrown out like trash must be unbearable. Even the detectives after 3 years get choked up like many of us here.

Wonder if the sexual assault testimony will come out this afternoon.

:tears:

It was tweeted that Tara left before the pictures were shown. I don't know how they are making it through this. Tears too.

 

[Kamille]

Man..........TLM just keeps slip sliding around, doesn't she.

I think she likes all the attention, and enjoys the opportunity to jerk the police and everyone else around.

She didn't want him to go to jail for something he didn't do?

What else didn't he do, I wonder.

You know TLM's mind and thought processes are undoubtly a very difficult thing to discern, even for a top notch therapist, but I really wish the Crown would have drawn more out of her during questioning as to why she may have thought that if she fessed up to being the person who wielded the hammer that MR would not have gone to prison "for something he didn't do". And that she would not have had to testify at his trial.

Was she under the impression that if she told the truth about who actually killed Victoria that he would in turn confess to his part in the abduction and sexual assault, since she had taken the accusation of him actually murdering Victoria out of the equation, and that there wouldn't have to be a trial at all for her to testify at? He wouldn't have to go to prison for something he didn't do, just for the things that he did do. If that is the case then she sure read MR all wrong.

MOO