View Full Version : Canada-Alberta-Liann White/Edmonton, AB Part 4 7/19/05
Bobbisangel
11-29-2006, 10:14 PM
Good grief, this guy has had months to think up a good story and he comes up with a nose bleed! To hear him tell it, Liana bled out during that nose bleed as there was blood everywhere and from one end of the house to the other and on everything! If she had really gotten hit that hard in the nose her co-workers would have noticed a swollen face and probably a black or two!
There is no jury that is going to believe a word this guy has to say. What does he think they will do...just ignore the evidence? I still don't understand why he is being charged with 2nd degree murder.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=d4db8278-6e78-4018-9a86-5a5ce303df79&k=3
Alleged wife-killer denies commiting murder
Chris Purdy, Edmonton Journal
Published: Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Michael White told a jury he was so distraught after he found his pregnant wife’s body lying in a ditch and was arrested for her murder that he was unable to properly answer police questions.
He remembers telling himself, “Dope, wake up. Shake it off.”
“I just was not talking or thinking clearly,” White testified under cross-examination during his murder trial Wednesday. “Remember, I had just found my wife, and it was an absolute horror and shock finding her.
“I was not in a right state of mind. I was thinking gibberish.”
On July 18, 2005, when police showed White photos of bloody items found in garbage bags outside his home, White said he didn’t recognize the blood-stained blue denim pants. Or the bloody sock. Or the first-aid kit. Or the broken lamp.
But White explained to the jury earlier this week that the items were his. He said his wife, Liana, had a nosebleed three weeks before she disappeared. Their three-year-old daughter, Ashley, had accidentally hit her in the face and broke a lamp in their bedroom. He got blood on his clothes trying to help. Liana cleaned up the mess and likely threw his dirty clothes in the trash.
White never told police about the nosebleed. He testified Wednesday it was an “unremarkable” event.
"You killed your wife, didn't you?" asked Crown prosecutor Troy Couillard.
“No, I did not kill my wife," said White. "I have never touched her, hurt her, pushed her. Anything, sir.”
White, a 29-year-old mechanic and former trooper in the military, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of his wife and offering an indignity to her dead body.
Liana was reported missing on July 12, after she failed to show up for her morning shift as a hospital clerk and her Ford Explorer was found abandoned in the parking lot of a recreation area near the couple’s Castle Downs home. The vehicle’s door was open and Liana’s purse and shoes were on the ground.
White later pleaded through the media for help to find his wife and organized a volunteer search party.
Police, who suspected White was involved in the disappearance, placed him under surveillance. On the night of July 14, officers watched him drive to a field along 167th Avenue near 142nd Street, a site used by the Edmonton Radio Control Society. A lamp shade was sitting on a nearby fence post.
White waded through waist-high weeds, grabbed two garbage bags, took them home and placed them outside for garbage pick up the next morning. A police officer riding on a garbage truck later seized the bags.
White explained to police, after his arrest, that he had been scouting for suitable areas for next day’s search when he pulled into the field. “Somebody told me it was a great dumping ground,” he said.
White said he saw the bags and took them home. He never looked inside.
This week, White told the jury he and Liana often dumped garbage there, such as grass clippings, oil pails, filters, car parts and scraps of wood. Liana would sit in the truck with Ashley while he got out to unload the junk.
White said when he saw the two bags in the same spot on July 14, he figured they were his and took them home.
Couillard asked White why he never looked inside the bags.
“I had no reason to,” said White.
Couillard pointed out other problematic parts of White’s evidence:
-- White earlier told police Ashley broke the lamp in their spare bedroom. But White testified this week that it was broken during the nosebleed incident in the master bedroom.
-- When police questioned White about traces of blood in the home, he gave various reasons: he stubbed a toe, cut his foot with a whipper-snipper, cut himself with a knife, hit himself on a kitchen corner. He also told Liana’s mother, the blood police found in the house was his. He never said Liana had a nosebleed.
-- White told the jury he had just come home from work at the truck repair shop when Liana had the nosebleed. His hands were dirty so he put on latex gloves to help her. He earlier told police he always showered as soon as he got home from work after work to get clean.
-- White testified Liana was a “clean freak” about keeping their house neat and tidy. She cleaned the bedroom after the nosebleed, but police found some drops of blood left on the walls.
-- White also referred to Liana in the past tense a few times while talking to police when she first went missing. But he said he believed she was still alive somewhere.
Couillard continued to press White about the Crown’s version of events.
“You packed up those things in the garbage bag. You took her body out to the Poundmaker Road,” said Couillard.
“No sir. I did not,” said White.
“You dumped those items at the radio control society?” said Couillard.
“No sir. I did not,” White said.
“You left the lamp shade as a marker so you’d know where to come back to.”
“No sir, I did not.”
“You had to get rid of those garbage bags because you knew there was going to be a search.”
“No sir, that is not true.”
“You went back knowing the next day was garbage day.”
“No sir.”
“You dumped her vehicle at the ball diamond. You staged the robbery. You left all her stuff lying around.”
“No sir.”
“And then you ran home?”
"Absolutely not sir,” said White.
The trial continues today.
cpurdy@thejournal.canwest.com
http://www.owjn.org/info/murder.htm
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First degree murder is murder that is planned and deliberate (section 231(2)). Where a death occurs in the course of a sexual assault or criminal harassment, it is first degree murder whether or not the death was planned or deliberate (section 231 (5), (6)).
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Second degree murder is defined as "all murder that is not first degree murder" (section 231(2)).
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Manslaughter is defined as "culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide" (section 234).
What does this mean?
Several things of particular relevance to our work:
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Murder is first degree only when it is both planned and deliberate. The planning and deliberation must come before the beginning of the homicide. For example, someone makes a conscious decision to kill someone else, sets a plan in place and carries it out.
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All other murders are second degree. The homicide must still be intentional, or it is not murder, but it becomes second degree murder when the intention to cause the personÕs death did not occur before the act began. In other words, there was no planning or deliberation. For example, someone assaults another person without having had any plan ahead of time to kill this person, but once the assault is commenced, intends to kill him.
Don't know if this helps or not.
Bobbisangel
11-29-2006, 10:49 PM
Thanks so much for keeping us updated on the trial. I really appreciate it.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/11/30/2561813.html
A defence lawyer for accused wife killer Michael White put three witnesses on the stand Thursday in an attempt to discredit testimony by the victim’s mother.
On Monday, Maureen Kelly, mother of Liana White, had described for the jury some unusual behavior by Michael White after his 29-year-old pregnant wife went missing.
However, under cross examination, Kelly had denied ever saying she wanted to kill herself to two volunteer members of the city police victims services unit.
Today, defence lawyer Laura Stevens called the two volunteers as witnesses.
Both Sandra Arbeau and Colette Radasic testified Kelly said several times that she just wanted to kill herself.
“I wrote that on three or four occasions Maureen Kelly said I just want to kill myself,” said Arbeau, after consulting her notes referring to July 12, 2005.
Radasic also said they called Kelly’s doctor and the distraught woman said the same thing to the doctor.
Both women described Kelly as being “agitated, very upset and grief-stricken.”
Stevens also recalled city police Sgt. Randy Topp, who was in charge of the forensic investigation at the White home and earlier testified for the Crown.
Kelly had testified she had gone to the White home to pick up some stuff for the White’s three-year-old daughter and noticed there were very few towels in the house.
However, Topp testified that when he did a walk-through of the White home on July 15, 2005, he found a series of towel sets in one linen closet, a single towel in another closet and three towels hanging in the two bathrooms.
Topp also testified it was his decision to not collect maggots found on White’s decomposing body so a forensic entomologist could try to determine how long the body had been in the ditch where it was discovered on July 17, 2005.
“We did not need to establish a time line,” said Topp, adding police did not need to know how long the body was in the ditch because they knew when she was last seen and that her body was found five days later.
On Monday, Kelly testified she found it odd that the White home was so “pristine” when she went over on July 12, 2005. She also noted that White slept through the night while she was up pacing and the next day he told his family he had hardly slept at all.
Jurors were told there will be no evidence tomorrow. The last defence witness, an expert from the U.S., will testify Monday by video link and the case should wrap up next week.
White has testified he did not kill his wife and bloody evidence seized from garbage bags he was spotted picking up in a field and putting out for pickup were from Liana having a nose bleed three weeks before going missing.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=f95068fe-097b-4d03-a498-f12244e58b30&k=0
White trial goes to jury next week (updated 4 p.m.)
Defence to call last witness Monday
Chris Purdy, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
The murder trial of Michael White is expected to go to the jury before the end of next week.
As Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Mary Moreau released the jury today for a long-weekend break, she said the defence plans to call its last witness in the case Monday.
The witness, an expert from the United States, is to spend the weekend examining trial exhibits. He will testify over video-link because he has serious health problems and cannot travel, Moreau said
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She also thanked jury members for their patience. The trial, which began Nov. 2, was supposed to finish Friday.
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Font: ****White, a 29-year-old mechanic, is charged with the second-degree murder of his wife, Liana. He also faces a charge of offering an indignity to her dead body.
Liana, four months pregnant with the couple’s second child, was reported missing on July 12, 2005, after she failed to show up for her morning shift as a hospital clerk. Her Ford Explorer was also found abandoned in the parking lot of a recreation area near the couple’s Castle Downs home.
Two volunteers with the police victims’ services unit, Sandra Arbeau and Paulette Radisic, were dispatched to the home that day to help comfort Liana’s family.
The two women were called as witnesses on behalf of the defence Thursday to testify about the credibility of Liana’s mother, Maureen Kelly.
They said Kelly was upset and crying and talked several times about wanting to die.
“She wanted to kill herself, she was so distressed,” said Radisic.
She said she helped Kelly phone her doctor and took her to her house to get some of her medication, Tylenol 3 pills and antidepressants.
Kelly earlier testified for the Crown that her son-in-law insisted on taking a shower that day, even though he had been at his mechanic's job for only an hour when he got a call from police to come home. And his hands were clean.
Kelly testified that after the victims’ services workers left about 11 p.m., she tried to talk with White about what could have happened to Liana. She said White simply said he "didn't know.” He then went to the couch, turned on the TV and a short time later started snoring.
Kelly told the jury White slept through the night while she was awake all night with worry.
She also said the next morning she heard White tell his mother on the phone: “Oh, I didn't sleep at all last night.”
White, who took the witness stand earlier this week to proclaim his innocence, testified he didn’t know what to say to Kelly that night.
“She was upset, beside herself. I didn’t know what to say. I’m barely keeping myself from collapsing,” White said. “I didn’t know how to comfort her. I didn’t know the appropriate reaction.”
White said Kelly followed him to the couch, and he held her hand as he drifted off to sleep. He later woke up to find her sleeping.
On July 17, White and his volunteer search party found Liana’s naked body lying in a ditch, covered with branches. She had been stabbed twice in the back and died of a wound to her neck.
White was arrested the following day.
Jay78
12-04-2006, 05:44 PM
Not Enough blood for a stabbing- Expert
.S.-based defence witness testifies via video-link fatal stabbing should have produced more blood
Chris Purdy, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Monday, December 04, 2006
If Liana White was fatally stabbed in the neck in her bedroom, forensic tests should have detected more blood, says an American crime scene expert.
“I’m left with a question: Where’s the blood?” Dr. Jon Nordby testified this morning via video-link from his office in Tacoma, Wash.
Nordby also told the jury that blood stains on the bedroom wall may not indicate a stabbing.
“The stains on the wall came from some sort of impact of a blood source,” he said. “Could be a fist, could be a foot, could be a knife — but I would put that low on my list.”
Nordby, an independent consultant in crime scene analysis and forensic science, said he has worked with the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He helped process human remains at the World Trade Centre towers in New York following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
He is the last defence witness to testify in the murder trial of Michael White.
White, a 29-year-old mechanic, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of his pregnant wife, Liana, as well as offering an indignity to her dead body.
White earlier testified in his own defence during the trial that Liana had a nosebleed in their bedroom a few weeks before she disappeared.
She was reported missing on July 12, 2005 after she failed to show up for her morning shift as a hospital clerk and her Ford Explorer was found abandoned in the parking lot of a recreation area near the couple’s Castle Downs home.
White pleaded through the media for public help to find Liana. Five days later, his volunteer search team found her naked body in a ditch north of the city.
The Crown alleges White stabbed Liana in the couple's bedroom, then cleaned up the blood. He dumped her body in a ditch and hid garbage bags of bloody clothes and cleaning supplies in a field. He then left her vehicle in the parking lot, staged a robbery and ran home.
Police used a chemical called luminol to locate traces of blood in the couple’s bedroom and in the back of Liana’s Explorer.
Nordby said the luminol is only a presumptive test.
The Crown is scheduled to cross-examine him this afternoon.
Local news:
Defense has closed its case.John Norby ( the expert from Washington, D. C.) had identified human remains at WTC after 9/11.
He was concerned about the lack of blood in the bedroom. Does not believe that a knife was used.He would have expected to see more blood. Questioned why the soil under her body was not examined for blood. ( eventually admits that this is hard to do and not necessarily a good indicator)
Jury is to start to deliberate on Wednesday.
SewingDeb
12-04-2006, 09:24 PM
Interesting that the expert thinks they would find more blood if it was a stabbing. Thanks for the updates Jess.
http://edmsun.canoe.ca/News/Edmonton/2006/12/05/2637870.html
Tue, December 5, 2006
Case against White inconclusive: Defence
Evidence failed to show motive
By CP
EDMONTON — The lawyer for an Edmonton man charged with second-degree murder in the death of his pregnant wife says the Crown’s case is inconclusive.
In her final arguments to the jury on Tuesday, Laura Stevens said the evidence has failed to show that Michael White killed his wife, Liana.
She said the Crown did not establish precisely how, when or where Liana died after she was reported missing on July 12, 2005.
Stevens also said the Crown failed to establish a motive.
“If you took nothing else from (Michael White’s) evidence, I suggest you take the fact he loved his wife,” Stevens said. “He gained nothing from this. He lost everything.”
The Crown has argued that White killed his wife, who was four months pregnant, in their bedroom and then cleaned up the blood and dumped her body in ditch north of the city.
They said he then hid garbage bags full of bloody refuse in a field, stashed her vehicle in a parking lot while strewing her belongings around it in an effort to simulate a robbery.
White testified that the blood came a nosebleed his wife suffered some days before. The defence has also entered evidence from a forensics expert saying a stabbing would have left more blood.
Liana White, 29, was originally from Kelowna, B.C.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=d2f6b934-0a1e-41db-8dc8-91f291781629&k=0
Final arguments
White's lawyer says he had no motive to kill his wife (1:24 p.m.)
Chris Purdy, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Tuesday, December 05, 2006
If Michael White murdered his pregnant wife and staged her abduction, he would have done a better job covering his tracks, his defence lawyer told a jury this morning.
Laura Stevens said the parking lot where the woman's Ford Explorer was found abandoned was wide open, near many homes and the busy Castle Downs YMCA.
Garbage bags of bloody clothing and cleaning supplies were also found in an open field along a busy road.
Michael White returns home after being released from the Edmonton Remand Centre on bail last year.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Michael White returns home after being released from the Edmonton Remand Centre on bail last year.
Ian Jackson/Edmonton Journal
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"There have to be a thousand better places to get ride of evidence than an open field," Stevens said in her closing address. "It doesn't make any sense."
On July 14, 2005, two days after his wife, Liana, went missing, police placed White under surveillance and watched him drive to the field and pick up the garbage bags. He took them home and placed them outside for garbage pick-up the next morning.
White earlier testified during his trial that Liana had a nosebleed a few weeks before she disappeared. She cleaned up the blood in their bedroom, and they often used the field as a dumping site for junk.
Stevens said White is not a cunning man.
"If he is lying, it should have been better than that," she said.
She said White had no motive to kill Liana. Friends and family said they were a happy couple and excited about having their second child.
"He loved his wife," Stevens said. "He gained nothing from this. He has lost everything."
White, a 29-year-old mechanic, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a dead body.
The jury is to start deliberations tomorrow.
Crown prosecutor Troy Couillard told the jury in his closing address there is no reasonable doubt White killed Liana.
Traces of blood found throughout the house and in the back of Liana's SUV do not suggest she had a nosebleed, he said.
A security tape from a north side pub also shows a Ford Explorer like Liana's driving in the direction of the parking lot where hers was found. Minutes later, a man resembling White is see jogging by in the opposite direction, towards the couple's home.
White's volunteer search party also discovered Liana's naked body lying face-down in a ditch north of the city, five days after she went missing. She had been stabbed and died from a wound to her neck.
"It all points to Michael White," said Couillard. "Is this because it's a tragic series of coincidences?
"It points to him because he's guilty. He killed her, and he meant to do it."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/12/06/2654439.html
Wed, December 6, 2006
Deliberations begin in White trial
White charged with killing pregnant wife
By CP
EDMONTON — A jury began considering Wednesday the guilt or innocence of Michael White, a man accused of killing his pregnant wife and dumping her naked body in a ditch.
In her charge to the seven-woman, five-man jury, Justice Mary Moreau of Court of Queen’s Bench reminded them that the Crown’s case is circumstantial and does not answer all questions.
“It would be an unusual case in which the jury could say, `We know everything there is to know about this case.’”
Liana White, 29, originally from Kelowna, B.C., vanished on July 12, 2005, and was found stabbed to death five days later. She was four months pregnant with the couple’s second child. Moreau emphasized that the jury must be convinced of her husband’s guilt in order to convict him.
“It is not enough for you to believe that Mr. White is probably or likely guilty of second-degree murder,” she said. “Proof of probable or likely guilt is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The judge also outlined the options for the jury: they could find White guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter or not guilty of either. On a second charge of offering an indignity to human remains, they could find him guilty or not guilty.
The Crown argued White killed Liana in their bedroom, cleaned up the blood and then abandoned her body on Edmonton’s northern outskirts.
He hid garbage bags full of bloody refuse in a field and stashed her vehicle in a parking lot while strewing her belongings around it in an effort to simulate a robbery. And he later retrieved the bags when he learned searchers were headed that way.
But during closing arguments Tuesday, White’s lawyer Laura Stevens said the Crown’s case failed to establish even basic facts such as how and when Liana White died.
She reminded the jury that investigators found nowhere near enough blood in the house for someone to have been stabbed to death.
She questioned why White would abandon his wife’s vehicle in the middle of a parking lot in sight of dozens of homes. She asked why someone trying to hide evidence would retrieve two garbage bags full of clothes and rags stained with his wife’s blood and bring them home from the field where he had originally stashed them.
But in his answering summary, Crown prosecutor Troy Coulliard repeated evidence that bloodstains on the bedroom wall and White’s clothes in the garbage bag were consistent with stabbing, not dripping from a nosebleed of Liana’s, as White testified in court.
As well, scrapes and bruises on Liana’s body suggested she had been dragged across a carpet and down a flight of stairs.
As well, Coulliard reminded the jury that White originally told police he didn’t recognize the contents of the garbage bags. In court, however, he acknowledged that the bags contained clothes belonging to both of them as well as a lamp from their bedside table that he said had broken during the confusion resulting from the nosebleed.
Court also heard that White had never mentioned the nosebleed to police during numerous lengthy interviews.
According to local news radio, the jury will deliberate into the evening. If they have not reached a verdict, they will retire to a hotel and continue deliberating in the morning.
( and I have to go out tonight !!!! so if anyone else is from the Edmonton area and a verdict is reached, please post !! )
http://edmsun.canoe.ca/News/Edmonton/2006/12/07/2669546-sun.html
he jury in the murder trial of accused wife killer Michael White was sequestered in an Edmonton hotel last night after failing to reach a verdict.
The seven women and five men packed it in for the day at 8 p.m. after deliberating from approximately 1:30 p.m. following legal instructions from the judge.
The jurors are expected to resume their deliberations this morning.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/12/07/2670985.html
Thu, December 7, 2006
Michael White found guiltyDeath of pregnant wife
By Edmonton Sun
Michael White has been found guilty of second-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains in the July 2005 slaying of his pregnant wife.
Jurors in the second-degree murder trial of White reached a verdict around 1:30 p.m. today.
White closed his eyes and bowed his head, as a member of the jury pronounced him guilty of killing 29-year-old Liana and dumping her body in a north Edmonton field.
White then looked briefly towards his mother and stepdad, while Lianna’s mother, Maureen Kelly, hugged Crown prosecutor Troy Couillard.
The jury was sequestered in an Edmonton hotel last night after failing to reach a verdict after about seven hours following legal instructions from the judge.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061207/michael_white_061207/20061207?hub=TopStories
28-year-old Michael White (file)
Michael and Liana White, with their two-year-old daughter.
Michael and Liana White, with their two-year-old daughter.
Michael White found guilty of second-degree murder
Updated Thu. Dec. 7 2006 4:59 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
An Edmonton jury has found Michael White guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his pregnant wife.
"When Michael White entered the courtroom he had that same look on his face that he had during media interviews -- sort of confused, bewildered and sad," reported CTV's Sarah Galashan on Thursday.
"He hung his head down when he heard the verdict, and the jury was stoic when delivering their decision."
Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. The jury has recommended White serve at least 15 years before he's eligible for parole.
But Maureen Kelly, mother of the victim, Liana White, said that would be too lenient for the killer of her daughter.
"Fifteen years seems quite light for a murder. My daughter lost her life and he still has a second chance," she told reporters outside the courthouse.
According to Kelly, the couple's young daughter Ashley may have witnessed brief glimpses of the murder.
"She was in the house the night it happened. I believe she saw pieces of it. I don't think she saw everything that happened," said Kelly.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/12/07/jury-white.html
A gasp was heard in the courtroom Thursday afternoon when the verdict was read. A dry-eyed White held his hands over his face and looked down.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/12/07/2670985.html
Thu, December 7, 2006
Michael White found guilty
Death of pregnant wife
By Edmonton Sun
Michael White has been found guilty of second-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains in the July 2005 slaying of his pregnant wife.
Jurors in the second-degree murder trial of White reached a verdict around 1:30 p.m. today.
White closed his eyes and bowed his head, as a member of the jury pronounced him guilty of killing 29-year-old Liana and dumping her body in a north Edmonton field.
White then looked briefly towards his mother and stepdad, while Lianna’s mother, Maureen Kelly, hugged Crown prosecutor Troy Couillard.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=a62c75b2-5e3c-438a-9b0e-60737e5ad6fa&k=0
The jury delivered the guilty verdicts about 1:30 p.m. today, during its second day of deliberations. One juror cried; others clutched tissues.
White automatically receives a life sentence for the murder conviction. The jury recommended he serve 15 years before he is eligible for parole.
Michael White returns home from the Remand Centre after being released on bail last year.
Ian Jackson/Edmonton Journal
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Mary Moreau will determine the parole period, as well as sentence him on the charge of causing an indignity, next week.
White closed his eyes then sat in the prisoner’s box with his head in his hands. When his mother, Carol Forbes, hugged him good-bye, he cried and repeated, “It’s OK. It’s OK.”
From local news
Neighbours are relieved with the verdict. " He got what he deserved"
Maureen Kelly ( Liana's mother)
" I hate him, hate him for what he had done" " If you had met Liana, you would have liked her."
Court documents reveal that Ashley told her grandmother that her father hit her mother and that there was blood on her neck. These statements were not allowed in court.
Michael's pastor is still standing by him; saying that witnesses were not allowed in court that would have disputed facts.
SewingDeb
12-08-2006, 12:40 AM
I agree with Liana's mother. 15 years is way too light for murder.
The sentencing is next Wednesday with victim statements, iirc.
sandraladeda
12-08-2006, 10:05 PM
Jess, thank you for all the updates. I am impressed by your ability to report the facts without any emotion or bias.
I have been following closely (from Calgary) and was afraid that the jury might actually buy some of White's explanation for the blood in the home, the bloody refuse dumped in the field, etc. Not that I expected them to believe it, but i thought they might have some doubt as to his guilt. I don't, I would have needed to hear an explanation for the discrepancies between his story - he claimed she left at 6 am to go to work, yet witneses saw the abandoned explorer hours earlier, he was captured on film by the security camera of a local pub, yet he vehemently denied it was him, and so on. That's what I needed to consider him not guilty.
Really, when you look at the totality of the evidence against him, it is apparent that he is really not that bright.
I feel terribly sad at this senseless death of a lovely young mother who had so much to live for. :(
Thank you Sandraladeda :D
I certainly had a HUGE bias and was very confident of the outcome. As more little dribs and drabs are coming out now, the jury must be feeling pleased that they made the right decision.
I hope the judge listens and sets parole at 15 years or MORE! I believe the maximum is 25-- and that is just to apply for a chance for parole.
I might have posted this article before . Bear with me ! :D
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061208/liana_white_daughter_061208/20061208?hub=Canada
dated Fri. Dec. 8 2006 7:57 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The three-year-old daughter of Liana White may have witnessed her pregnant mother's murder, the victim's mother revealed Friday in Edmonton.
White's body was found in a ditch five days after she went missing in July 2005. The victim's mother, Maureen Kelly, said on Thursday that she thought the couple's daughter Ashley had witnessed her mother's murder.
On Friday, one day after an Edmonton jury found Michael White guilty of second degree murder in the death of his pregnant wife, Kelly said her grand-daughter has been asking questions and talking about gruesome details.
"I believe she saw pieces of it," Kelly told CTV News. "I don't think she saw everything that happened, but I think she saw 'clips.'"
Kelly said, "it's not something she'll sit down and talk about or answer questions about, it just comes out."
In statements that the jury was not allowed to hear, Kelly said that the pre-schooler, who was three at the time of the murder, has asked questions and made comments to her and family friends that suggest she saw something.
"Did you see the blood on mommy's neck?" Ashley asked, while making a motion from her own neck downward, said Kelly.
On another occasion, after watching a male family friend cutting buns, the little girl said she would "have to go and sleep in the leaves with my mommy."
And when driving past the spot where her mother's body was discovered, the girl told a family friend "I've been here -- my daddy took me here."
Kelly also said that her grand-daughter said she was her "lying in bed and she heard a noise and she got up and it was mommy on the floor."
When Kelly asked her what happened, the little girl replied: "Mommy said no more hitting, daddy, and daddy said yes, hitting."
Kelly's statement continues to say: "Ashley pounded her tummy with her fist, then went to the wall and banged her head against the wall a couple of times," and then told her "like that, grandma."
Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. The jury that convicted Michael White on Thursday recommended that he serve 15 years before being eligible for parole.
After the verdict was read, Kelly said that's not enough.
"Fifteen years seems quite light for a murder. My daughter lost her life and he still has a second chance," she said.
The jury also found White guilty of offering an indignity to human remains.
When Liana White went missing on July 12, 2005, her husband later made a tearful public appearance, vowing to find her.
He testified in court that he organized his own search party, including his mother, and found Liana's decomposed body in a ditch on July 17, north of Edmonton's outskirts.
Investigators concluded that White, 29, had been stabbed to death. She was four months pregnant at the time.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=6618b422-c680-4b61-9215-c1332affa9ed&k=85804&p=2
Real-life whodunnit no less compelling than scripted TV dramas
Paula Simons, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, December 09, 2006
On our television screens each night, we watch cops, FBI agents and prosecutors matching wits with clever defendants, unravelling complex plots. Real life is more prosaic. But every now and then, Edmonton is gripped by a real whodunnit to fit the fiction formula.
On July 12, 2005, a pretty young mother named Liana White, pregnant with her second child, was reported missing. Her abandoned SUV was found not far from her home, her belongings littered beside it. Her husband appeared on television, making tearful appeals for her return in best CNN style. It was as if he were following the Scott Peterson playbook. In more ways than one.
Five days later, White led a search party to Liana's body, in a field just outside the city. Police promptly arrested him and charged him with second-degree murder. This Thursday, after 10 hours of deliberation, an Edmonton jury found him guilty. White now faces a mandatory life sentence. The jury went a step further, and recommended he be ineligible for parole for at least 15 years.
White's legal team mounted a diligent defence of their client. Lawyer Laura Stevens, who delivered closing arguments, did her best to create reasonable doubt, pointing out all the unanswered questions in the Crown's case, especially the lack of motive. But the weight of evidence against White, circumstantial though it was, was overwhelming.
Two things were particularly damning. First, there was the video surveillance tape from the neighbourhood pub, located between the White family home and the lot where the family's Ford Explorer was found abandoned.
White told police Liana had left the house in the SUV at her usual time, 6:15 a.m. But witnesses saw the vehicle abandoned as early at 5:45 am.
In fact, the videotape showed the Explorer zooming past the pub at 4:59 a.m.
The blurry image shows a man in a white T-shirt with White's stocky build driving the SUV. Eleven minutes later, the video shows what looks to be the same man running back towards White's house. Under police interrogation, White admitted the Explorer in the video was his, but insisted he was not the burly bald guy in the video.
He never explained how Liana could have driven away at 6:15 a.m. in the same vehicle. Or how or why a guy who looked uncannily like him would have been out driving around his neighbourhood in his Explorer at 5 a.m.
Then there were the two bags of clothing, paper towels, sponges and gloves -- all stained with Liana's blood -- that White retrieved from a field on the northwest edge of the city, two days after Liana's "disappearance." At the time, White was under police surveillance, though he didn't know it. Police saw him drive to the field, pick up those two bags, and put them out front of his house in Dunluce for garbage pick-up.
White testified at trial that he just happened to find the bags while he was out searching for Liana's body and brought them home, without looking in them, because he didn't like to see garbage lying around. The blood on the towels and gloves, he explained, came from a nosebleed Liana had three weeks earlier.
Real-life whodunnit no less compelling than scripted TV dramas
Paula Simons, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, December 09, 2006
White testified Liana must have bundled up the clothes, towels and a broken lamp from the couple's bedroom without his knowledge.
A guilty man, Stevens argued, would never have gone back to the secluded spot where he has dumped two garbage bags of bloody evidence and brought them back to his own house. No one would have been so stupid.
And a guilty man, Stevens said, would have thought up a better explanation than a bad nosebleed to account for the presence of Liana's blood in the garbage bags and on the floor and walls of the couple's bedroom. The story, she suggested, was too stupid to be a lie.
There was just one problem with Stevens's argument. To the jury, Michael White seemed just that stupid.
A sensible man in White's position might well have confessed to killing his wife, insisting it all happened in an unpremeditated moment of blind rage, and tried to get a manslaughter plea.
Yet right to the end, White denied any responsibility for what happened to Liana, and stuck to his cockamamie story. Like Dunluce's O.J. Simpson, White still insists he's innocent. And so do his ardent supporters, the folks at the Freedom Church of God.
"We remain confident that the truth will prevail in spite of this temporary injustice," said pastors Robert Scott and Gerald Budzinski, in a statement released Thursday afternoon.
Talk about blind faith.
Yet there is something perplexing about White's attitude, something that might have hoodwinked his backers. It's as if Whites believes his own story, as if he's in such denial about his crime, that he can't face reality.
At some level, perhaps, he feels he's telling the truth when he says he didn't kill Liana, or concocted his elaborate, half-baked coverup. That it was his shadow self, his inner evil twin, if you will, who did all these things.
But life isn't a TV show. Liana's murder was all too real. The only injustice here is that a woman died, that a little girl lost her mother in the most dreadful circumstances. Liana's friends and family have only this bitter consolation. The legal system got this one absolutely right.
- Liana White was a devoted wife and mother, dedicated to her job and respected by her co-workers. Her husband, Michael White, is a liar, a thief and now convicted of her murder. / See David Staples and Jamie Hall in the Journal's Sunday Reader
L L & S
12-10-2006, 01:25 AM
"We remain confident that the truth will prevail in spite of this temporary injustice," said pastors Robert Scott and Gerald Budzinski, in a statement released Thursday afternoon. I wonder what "truth " Pastors Robert and Gerald know that would "prevail in spite of this temporary injustice?" Seems to me if they knew the "truth" of the situation then they would have said something to LE before the trial even during the trial if they had to. If you knew the "truth" in this situation wouldn't you contact the defense team immediately if there was a chance an innocent man was going to prison for life? I think you would.
Jess, you know I'm a huge fan of yours. Thanks for keeping this trial updated for us.
o/t is there an injured UPS guy on your front steps ? ;) How dare they deliver more work for you, right? Hope you had a good evening. See you in internetland.
not a peep has been heard from the pastors........... though that is not surprising, given the Canadian Justice system.Anything reported in the media is only made public AFTER it comes out in court. However I doubt any "info" was even given to the defense lawyers. They are from a good firm.
It's time the pastors just loved the sinner, hated the sin and moved on. Surely by now they 've heard the statements Ashley has made to her grandmother and that the girl is suffering from post traumatic symptoms and regularly seeing a therapist.
Justice was served.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sundayreader/story.html?id=bf493ea1-7d2f-4d68-a431-a9a9934bc1cf
This is a long article but well worth the read. It is a conversation with Liana's mom. Brought tears to my eyes.
'I'm so lonely for Liana'
Liana White was the light of her life. Now, to banish the darkness of Liana's murder, Maureen Kelly nurtures memories of her free-spirited daughter and strives to make a loving home for her granddaughter
Jamie Hall, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, December 10, 2006
EDMONTON - Maureen Kelly smiles wistfully at the photographs, a lifetime of memories of her daughter, Liana, spread before her on the dining room table.
There's Maureen, a young mom of 20, giving Liana her first bath in a plastic oval tub, gently cradling her precious newborn in the water.
There's Liana in a bulky red snowsuit, a puppy clasped to her chest.
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And a Polaroid of Liana, the Girl Guide, her careful child-like printing telling all in a caption: "Me and my 1st Hamster Ginger."
In this one she's older, 10 maybe, arms raised, a pair of oversize headphones covering her ears.
"She always loved to dance," says Maureen.
No photograph album of Liana would be complete without a snapshot of her on the beach in Kelowna, toes dug into the sand, eyes squinting against the glare of the hot Okanagan sun.
She and her mom lived there for many years, and looked forward to summer when the Perillis, longtime family friends, would pull their tent trailer from Edmonton and stay at a nearby campground.
The "three musketeers," Liana and the Perillis' kids Chris and Marina, would spend endless hours paddling and splashing in the lake.
These photographs, and with them their bittersweet memories, are all Maureen has left of her daughter since she was murdered nearly 17 months ago, just shy of Liana's 30th birthday.
"I'm so lonely for her," says Maureen of the loss of her only child, her voice barely more than a whisper. "She was the centre of my world."
snipped
Maureen's family after her divorce from Liana's father, Mario Roseto.
Maureen worked hard to create a loving, stable environment for her daughter who, even as a teen, didn't really rebel, save for those few months in Grade 8 when she "wore black all the time and wore too much makeup."
Oh, and there was that tattoo incident when she was 15.
It was a time that pre-dated parental consent for such things, says Maureen, and Liana and a group of friends went out for the evening.
"A few days later," says Maureen, "we were sitting on the couch and her sock wasn't quite pulled all the way up, and I noticed a blue tail sticking out.
"When I asked her what it was, she pulled the sock all the way down to show me the dolphin tattoo; she just giggled about it."
Heartbreakingly, it was that tattoo that helped authorities identify Liana's badly decomposed body.
Maureen modelled a devotion to motherhood that her daughter mimicked later in life, when she had a daughter of her own.
His family talks about him.. Very interesting
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sundayreader/story.html?id=71baa299-180b-4924-b797-9c71ac38333f
Why did he do it?
Michael White's murderous attack on his pregnant wife wasn't the first time he had committed a crime, then tearfully claimed his innocence. He had used this tactic to get out of trouble several times in his past
But not all of White's relatives are sure of his innocence.
White's father, Steve, was with Michael during much of the five-day search for Liana, from July 12-17, 2005. In fact, Steve was in the car with Michael when Liana's body was found. Their search party was driving down an isolated rural road, car windows open on the hot summer day, when they smelled the odour of death. Searchers went to investigate. Michael's mother, Carol, found Liana's badly decomposed corpse.
Published: Sunday, December 10, 2006
"It was bad news," Steve says of Michael being part of the discovery team. "It looked bad for us to find her. We're not stupid. We thought, 'Oh, this is not good.' "
Still, Steve thought there was no way his son could have killed Liana. Over time, though, doubt has crept in. "I mean, anything can happen behind closed doors," he says. "So I can't be 100 per cent. He's my son and I love him, but anything can happen."
Hepburn was unimpressed with White's claims. "He's a little con artist. He's a sick boy. Every time I saw him on the street after that, his head went down -- so guilty.... He was a compulsive thief and a goddamn good liar.... It was almost like he believed he didn't do it. I don't know -- split personality or whatever."
Hepburn heard of White stealing money from others as well, including White's own grandfather. "He wouldn't admit to nothing," Hepburn says.
~~
Published: Sunday, December 10, 2006
"I think that theft stuff maybe didn't stop and that she knew about it. It was still going on, and she was going home to give him an ultimatum that night."
In his testimony, White portrayed Hansen as the closest of friends. "I looked at him as my side of the family out here. He was a brother, a mentor."
But Hansen was appalled at White's words on the stand.
"He's a filthy liar and he's very good at it, from what I see now," he says. "All I can say is, I hope the gentleman gets what he deserves."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061210/white_injuries_061210/20061210?hub=TopStories
Convicted killer White found injured in cell
Updated Sun. Dec. 10 2006 8:29 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Michael White, just convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, was rushed to hospital after being found injured in his cell, CTV Edmonton has learned.
Doctors treated White for non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities then returned him to the Edmonton Remand Centre on Sunday.
Sources told CTV Edmonton the wounds are believed to be self-inflicted. White, 29, is believed to have been alone in his cell at the time.
However, police say the convicted killer is not under a suicide watch.
On Thursday, a jury found White guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Liana White.
The jury further recommended that he not be eligible for parole from his life sentence until he had served at least 15 years.
justbetweenus
12-10-2006, 11:27 PM
His family talks about him.. Very interesting
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sundayreader/story.html?id=71baa299-180b-4924-b797-9c71ac38333f
Why did he do it?
Michael White's murderous attack on his pregnant wife wasn't the first time he had committed a crime, then tearfully claimed his innocence. He had used this tactic to get out of trouble several times in his past
But not all of White's relatives are sure of his innocence.
White's father, Steve, was with Michael during much of the five-day search for Liana, from July 12-17, 2005. In fact, Steve was in the car with Michael when Liana's body was found. Their search party was driving down an isolated rural road, car windows open on the hot summer day, when they smelled the odour of death. Searchers went to investigate. Michael's mother, Carol, found Liana's badly decomposed corpse.
Published: Sunday, December 10, 2006
"It was bad news," Steve says of Michael being part of the discovery team. "It looked bad for us to find her. We're not stupid. We thought, 'Oh, this is not good.' "
Still, Steve thought there was no way his son could have killed Liana. Over time, though, doubt has crept in. "I mean, anything can happen behind closed doors," he says. "So I can't be 100 per cent. He's my son and I love him, but anything can happen."
Hepburn was unimpressed with White's claims. "He's a little con artist. He's a sick boy. Every time I saw him on the street after that, his head went down -- so guilty.... He was a compulsive thief and a goddamn good liar.... It was almost like he believed he didn't do it. I don't know -- split personality or whatever."
Hepburn heard of White stealing money from others as well, including White's own grandfather. "He wouldn't admit to nothing," Hepburn says.
~~
Published: Sunday, December 10, 2006
"I think that theft stuff maybe didn't stop and that she knew about it. It was still going on, and she was going home to give him an ultimatum that night."
In his testimony, White portrayed Hansen as the closest of friends. "I looked at him as my side of the family out here. He was a brother, a mentor."
But Hansen was appalled at White's words on the stand.
"He's a filthy liar and he's very good at it, from what I see now," he says. "All I can say is, I hope the gentleman gets what he deserves."
Jess..I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your top notch coverage on this case. Life has been so busy for me lately but I've been trying to follow it as much as I could; and so many times I felt so grateful to you, that I could come here to catch up on the daily news through your posts.
Did you see the program crtv. Canada aired last Friday night on the case? I caught maybe the last 10 mins, but hope to see the program in it's entirety.
The last few links you posted after the trial were so interesting. So well written I didn't want them to end. I cried reading Lianas mom's story. So sad.:(
Thanks again Jess.
Bobbisangel
12-11-2006, 03:15 AM
Liana's mother is so right...15 yrs is nothing for taking the life of a young woman and her unborn child. The mother should be able to go to the parole hearings though and speak. White will probably still be denying the murder in 15 yrs so that is something that Lianna's mother will be able to use against him at the parole hearing. I don't know about Canada but in the US parole boards don't like it when the criminal won't admit that they did anything wrong. They usually don't get paroled if they won't admit the to the crime.
http://edmsun.canoe.ca/News/Edmonton/2006/12/11/2736022-sun.html
Convicted wife-killer Michael White was treated for minor injuries yesterday after he claimed he was assaulted at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
White, who is awaiting sentencing for killing his pregnant wife, suffered cuts to both arms and was taken to hospital shortly after 7:30 a.m., said a remand centre source.
Edmonton news reporter Byron Christopher said White needed more than "70 stitches" to close his wounds - which included a cut on his neck.
SELF-INFLICTED?
The 29-year-old inmate was returned to the remand centre later in the morning.
White is now on a suicide watch, said Christopher.
While White's claims of a jailhouse attack were being investigated, it was believed his injuries were self-inflicted, the source told the Sun.
"If he was assaulted, he'd still be in hospital," the source added, explaining that inmate-on-inmate violence typically results in more severe injuries.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=af9d8d7e-d82c-4dfd-80ee-66cc0c3cb62b
ates attacked him, White claims
Cuts from wrists up to his elbows not deep enough to cause serious damage, source says
Jodie Sinnema, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, December 11, 2006
EDMONTON - Just days after being found guilty of the murder of his pregnant wife, Michael White is under suicide watch at the remand centre with a cut from ear to ear along his throat, according to a Journal source.
White was rushed to hospital Sunday morning and treated for apparently self-inflicted, non-life-threatening wounds.
He had cuts on his wrists and up to his elbows, said one source, who asked not to be identified. The slashes weren't deep enough to cause serious damage.
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The same source said White had left a note and was later found by his cellmate, who alerted guards.
"There was an allegation made by Michael White that he was assaulted by some inmates," said Andy Weiler, spokesman for the Solicitor General's office. "Because there are allegations of a criminal incident, we'll automatically call (police)."
The guards were notified of White's injuries at 8 a.m. Sunday. White was taken to hospital for treatment and returned to the remand centre by mid-afternoon, Weiler said.
Another source said White is now in the centre's mental-health area, where inmates are kept in separate cells and are constantly monitored by video cameras and guards.
Mabel
12-11-2006, 12:32 PM
I think we need to start a group to fight for prisoner's rights. If Mr. White wants to cut himself into tiny pieces he should be allowed to do so, IMO.
http://edmsun.canoe.ca/News/Edmonton/2006/12/12/2753080-sun.html
Tue, December 12, 2006
White's injuries called ploy
Criminologist says wife-killer may have slashed himself in hopes of lenient sentence
By ELIZA BARLOW, EDMONTON SUN
Michael White might have slashed his own throat and arms in jail in hopes the judge would go easier on him at his sentencing this week, says a U.S. expert on socio-paths.
"I could have written the script," said Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.
A suicide attempt could be meant to portray "a vulnerable, fragile man who misses his wife desperately and wants to be with her again in the hereafter," he said.
White, 29, was convicted by a jury last Thursday of second-degree murder in the July 2005 slaying of his pregnant wife Liana White, and interfering with her remains.
He's slated to have a sentencing hearing tomorrow.
On Sunday, White was treated for minor slash wounds to his arms and throat after being injured in the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Solicitor General spokesman Andy Weiler said White claimed he was assaulted by "a number of inmates."
But remand centre sources told the Sun that White's injuries were self-inflicted.
White is on suicide watch while city police investigate his allegations.
"They'll conduct the investigation and they'll lay any charges that are appropriate," said Weiler.
City police offered no update on the probe yesterday.
Levin said virtually all of White's actions since he murdered his wife are the classic behaviour of a sociopath who feels sorry for himself, not for the people he's wronged.
During the five days Liana was missing, before her decomposing body was found dumped in a ditch, White organized volunteer search parties to look for her.
He cried on camera during televised appeals asking for Liana to "hold tight."
At his trial, he took the stand in his own defence and steadfastly denied killing Liana or even laying a hand on her.
"The same personality trait that permits him to feign innocence also permits him to be self-destructive in order to get a lighter sentence," said Levin.
Meanwhile, inmates doing hard time at the Edmonton Institution, the maximum-security prison White is expected to be transferred to, are anticipating the wife-killer's arrival.
"His life will be in danger here," a guard who's worked at the Max for 10 years told the Sun yesterday.
"There's an inmate code of conduct and you don't kill pregnant ladies and you don't kill kids," said the guard, who did not want to be identified.
White is expected to be dropped right into protective custody once all his assessments are complete.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=533163c5-c9b0-4409-9960-36bef78ae238&k=0
White, 29, was convicted last week of second-degree murder of his wife as well as offering an indignity to her human remains by dumping her body in a ditch north of the city.
Liana was reported missing July 12, 2005, after she failed to show up for her morning shift as a hospital clerk and her Ford Explorer was found abandoned in a parking lot near the couple's Castle Downs home.
White tearfully pleaded through the media for help to find his wife. Five days later, his volunteer search party discovered her naked body in the ditch, covered with leaves and branches.
Liana was four months pregnant with the couple's second child.
The Crown proved that White stabbed Liana in their bedroom, dumped her body in the ditch, cleaned up the mess at home, hid garbage bags of bloody evidence in a field, then abandoned her car and staged an abduction.
Their three-year-old daughter, Ashley, was home at the time of the killing.
White asked Liana's mother, Maureen Kelly, to take good care of the girl.
"I charge you with her life," he said. "Raise her well, just like you raised Liana. Make sure she knows all about her, every little detail. And if it's not too much, tell her of the man I used to be, if you can ever find it in your heart."
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Mary Moreau is to decide Friday how many years, ranging from 10 to 25, that White must serve in prison before he is eligible for parole.
The jury recommended 15 years. Today, Crown prosecutor Troy Couillard asked for 20 years.
Defence lawyer Laura Stevens said 14 years was more appropriate.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061213/michael_white_061213/20061213?hub=TopStories
White 'sorry' for grief suffered by victim's family
Updated Wed. Dec. 13 2006 8:42 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Michael White has apologized to the family of his slain wife, but stopped short of admitting any guilt in her murder.
White was in an Edmonton courtroom Wednesday for a sentencing hearing. Last week a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his pregnant wife, Liana White.
She was found stabbed to death last year.
"I'm so sorry for everything that you've gone through from day one 'til now," White told Liana's mother, Maureen Kelly.
But he added that he disagreed with the jury's decision.
Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. The jury has recommended White serve at least 15 years before he's eligible for parole.
The Crown argued for 20 years before eligibility, citing his deception after Liana went missing, when he claimed innocence and tearfully vowed to find her.
But the defence said a 14-year-term before eligibility would better reflect White's crime.
Kelly told the court that when her daughter's body was discovered, "my heart broke into a thousand piece and part of me died that day as well."
She added that Ashley, White and Liana's young daughter, has since woken up at night screaming for her mother. Kelly has hinted that Ashley may have witnessed parts of the murder.
White requested that his parents be allowed to help raise Ashley, and that Kelly "tell her about the man I used to be, (although) I would understand if you didn't."
Doctors treated White for non-life-threatening injuries earlier this week, after officials found him hurt in his cell. But police didn't place him under a suicide-watch.
But CTV Edmonton's David Ewasuk reported that White appeared relatively healthy and in good condition on Wednesday.
"He appeared normal as we've seen him before. He was wearing a buttoned-up shirt that covered most of his neck and his sleeves were long," said Ewasuk.
"But at least one person noticed that as he reached for a glass of water and his sleeve hiked up, you could see what appeared on his wrist to be a slash mark and some stitches."
Michael White is scheduled to be sentenced Friday at 9 a.m. local time.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/12/14/2787745-sun.html
Thu, December 14, 2006
'My blood boils'
Liana White's mom rips daughter's killer husband
By TONY BLAIS, COURT BUREAU
Kelli Montero, who worked with Liana White, talks to reporters yesterday outside court. (WALTER TYCHNOWICZ/ SUN)
Convicted wife killer Michael White and his heart-broken mother-in-law faced off in court yesterday at an emotional sentencing hearing for the disgraced former soldier.
Maureen Kelly, the mother of pregnant victim Liana White, blasted White for ripping her family apart and "coldheartedly" denying his involvement in her death while White, who continued to maintain his innocence, begged Kelly to take care of his daughter and tell her about him.
"On July 12, 2005, my world fell apart when I received the call that is every mother's worst nightmare," said Kelly, fighting off tears during her victim impact statement.
Kelly then criticized White for playing "the part of a grieving husband, looking for his missing wife, all the while knowing where she laid."
When the badly decomposed, naked body of Liana, four months' pregnant, was found in a ditch five days after going missing, Kelly said: "My heart broke into a thousand pieces and a part of me died that day as well." Then, she felt "extreme anger" when White was charged.
"I realized he had no remorse for what he had done. He had killed my daughter and was able to fool us all. He put my family through hell proclaiming his innocence."
Kelly said she is "tortured" by the way Liana died and the suffering, fear and sense of betrayal she likely endured. "My blood boils and my heart breaks over and over again. Dying this way is the worst thing that can happen to a person and losing your only child this way is unimaginable."
Kelly also spoke about her granddaughter Ashley, now five, and how she was in the home when Liana was killed.
"Ashley has been bereft since the soul-destroying murder of her mother. She has consistently woken up in the middle of the night screaming 'mommy, mommy,' and then vomiting," said Kelly, describing the girl as traumatized.
White, 29, spoke about the jury that convicted him of second-degree murder and interfering with human remains last week, saying he wouldn't want to be in their shoes. "I am not in agreeance (sic) with them, but I accept that."
White, who displayed no signs of an alleged suicide bid last weekend in jail, then turned to Kelly and put her in charge of Ashley.
"Raise her well like you raised Liana," said White. "Make sure she knows all about her, every little detail.
"And, if it's not too much, tell her of the man I used to be, if you can ever find it in your heart," he said, ending by telling Kelly how sorry he is for what she has endured.
A judge is set to rule tomorrow as to how long White must serve of his life sentence before being eligible for parole. The Crown wants White to serve at least 20 years, the jury recommended 15 years and White's lawyer suggested 14.
The Crown argued White killed Liana, 29, in their Castledowns home, dragged her body into the garage, put it into her SUV and then dumped her remains in a ditch. He then tossed bloody evidence from the killing into a garbage bag which he left in a grassy field and returned later to pick up, unwittingly under police surveillance.
As well, White left Liana's SUV in a parking lot, staged it to look like a robbery and was then captured on a pub security video running in the opposite direction.
White testified he never killed his wife and said the bloody evidence came from his wife having a nosebleed.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=36deb6d4-1b65-42f2-8f1f-f36aff059fb6&k=46412
Over the weekend, while in custody at the Edmonton Remand Centre, White was taken to hospital with slash wounds to his neck and wrists.
White told staff he was assaulted by fellow inmates, but he apparently left a note and was later placed under suicide watch. City police said they have no evidence to suggest there was an assault.
No marks were visible above the collar of White's dress shirt, tightly buttoned for his court appearance Wednesday. But when White reached for a glass of water from the prisoner's box, several red cuts with stitches could be seen on his right wrist.
Reading her victim impact statement in court, Kelly said Ashley has been traumatized and spends most of her days with play therapists and psychiatrists.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061215/white_sentencing_061215/20061215?hub=TopStories
White to be sentenced in pregnant wife's murder
Updated Fri. Dec. 15 2006 8:07 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A man found guilty of killing his pregnant wife last year will be sentenced this morning in an Edmonton courtroom.
Last week a jury found Michael White, 29, guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Liana White.
The jury recommended 15 years before parole eligibility, but CTV's legal analyst predicted the sentencing could be even heavier.
"The jury recommended 15 and I think the judge will pay a lot of attention to it, but there is an aggravating factor and I predict it will be 17 years for this reason: the deception of Michael White -- pretending to be a grieving husband while his wife lay in a ditch to his knowledge," Skurka told Canada AM.
While police searched for his wife, White made a tearful television appearance, claiming innocence and tearfully vowing "I will find you."
"It was calculated and it caused pain, enduring pain to the family and friends of this poor woman," Skurka said.
While in prison awaiting sentencing, doctors treated White for non-life-threatening injuries after officials found him hurt in his cell. His injuries appeared to be self-inflicted, however he wasn't put under a suicide watch.
White recently offered an apology to Liana's mother, Maureen Kelly, but he stopped short of admitting guilt.
"I'm so sorry for everything that you've gone through from day one 'til now," White said.
Skurka said neither the apology, nor the fact White hurt himself while in prison will have an effect on his sentencing. However, the impact on Ashley, the couple's three-year-old daughter, could have an effect.
Kelly said she believed her granddaughter may have witnessed "clips" of the murder.
"There's no evidence this child witnessed the murders of her mother, but there is very compelling evidence in the victim impact statement that she suffers nightmares and calls out for her mother -- that fact will be an aggravating factor in the sentencing," Skurka said.
The jury also found White guilty of offering an indignity to human remains.
Liana White went missing on July 12, 2005. White testified in court that he organized his own search party, including his mother, and found Liana's decomposed body in a ditch on July 17, north of Edmonton's outskirts.
The sentencing is expected at 9 a.m. MT.
White gets life without parole for 17 years
Updated Fri. Dec. 15 2006 12:21 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A man found guilty of killing his pregnant wife last year has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years.
Michael White, 29, looked at his hands as Justice Mary Moreau of Court of Queen's Bench read the sentence, CTV Edmonton's Rob Williams reported.
A jury last week found White guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his wife, Liana, who was four months pregnant with the couple's second child.
A second-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence with no charge of parole for a minimum of 10 years.
The jury had recommended a 15-year sentence while the Crown had urged a 20-year one.
"The severity of the case is the biggest issue we are dealing with ... and the evidence pointing to Michael White as the killer in the case," Williams reported to CTV Newsnet.
While police searched for his wife, White made a tearful television appearance, claiming innocence and tearfully vowing "I will find you."
White was put on suicide watch last weekend after sustaining cuts to his throat and wrists, which he said were caused by other inmates, but which investigators suggested were self-inflicted.
White recently offered an apology to Liana's mother, Maureen Kelly, but he stopped short of admitting guilt.
"I'm so sorry for everything that you've gone through from day one 'til now," White said.
Kelly said she believed the couple's three-year-old daughter may have witnessed at least part of the murder.
The jury also found White guilty of offering an indignity to human remains. Liana White went missing on July 12, 2005.
White testified in court that he organized his own search party, including his mother, and found Liana's decomposed body in a ditch on July 17, north of Edmonton's outskirts.
With files from The Canadian Press
http://edmsun.canoe.ca/Comment/Commentary/2006/12/16/2823658-sun.html
Sat, December 16, 2006
EDITORIAL: White and wrong
By SUN MEDIA
The Crown wanted Michael White to sit in jail for 20 years before he would be eligible for parole. The jury who convicted White of second-degree murder of his pregnant wife, Liana, suggested White rot for 15 years.
White's lawyer suggested 14 years behind bars was sufficient until White could apply for parole.
Yesterday, Justice Mary Moreau sawed off the differences and sentenced the unrepentant wife killer (who escaped charges of killing his unborn child only because children are not legally recognized as persons until they're out of the womb) to 17 years in the slammer.
It was certainly under the maximum 25-year parole eligibility limit - but given the recommendations in front of the judge, we never seriously considered that White would get the maximum. And the 17-year parole eligibility ruling was less than what the Crown wanted.
But it was also more than what the jury wanted - and they were the ones who actually found White guilty. And it was more than what White's lawyer recommended and considerably higher than the 10-year minimum parole eligibility allowed under the law.
On balance, then, we are not unhappy with the sentence meted out. White will have a good long time in prison to think about what he did - how he killed his young, pretty, pregnant wife for heaven knows what reason. Because White pleaded not guilty to the crime and is maintaining his innocence in the face of overwhelming evidence after being convicted, the circumstances that led to Liana's violent and bloody death are not yet fully known.
White now has 17 years to consider, too, that his young daughter Ashley is going to be all grown up by the time he can apply for parole. The little girl was just three when her mother was killed - a crime that Liana's mother, Maureen Kelly, says Ashley witnessed. In her victim impact statement, Kelly claimed that Ashley wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for her mother, and gets so emotional about it that she vomits.
If so, then may the Lord God Almighty have mercy on Michael White's soul, because we mortal humans will have a much more difficult time doing that.
Ashley had done - and has done - nothing in her little, precious life to deserve such a terrible fate. To lose her mother to a violent death, have an unborn baby brother or sister killed in the process, and her father spend her formative years in jail paying for the crime is an absolute tragedy.
In that light, we would have no problem arguing that 17 years behind bars is nowhere near enough time to properly pay for the real crime committed here - the crime of destroying his own family.
But neither would 25 years be enough. Nor 100.
That's a crime that will haunt Michael White's soul forever. And it's a debt that he can never repay.
Bobbisangel
12-18-2006, 03:46 AM
I wish he had gotten the full 20 years even though he deserved many more years then that. I believe the sentence should match the number of years that the victim would have lived if they had lived and been a healthy person. I really feel that the system doesn't put much value on a life destroyed. I also believe that if that killer sits there and denys that they committed the crime when the evidence is speaking loud and clear that they did commit it...the sentence should be that much longer.
When Michael White goes to his first parole hearing and he still denies that he murdered Lianna will he get parole? I know it used to be...in the US anyway... that if a person still denies that they committed the crime and of course they aren't remorseful because they won't admit they did anything wrong...parole was denied. Now in Washington state anyway we don't even have a parole board anymore. I think that is wrong because the victims can't go and talk at a parole hearing now. Just another thing wrong with our screwed up judicial system here.
cindy22
02-14-2007, 04:24 PM
I just feel bad for both families, Liana's and Mike's family are also suffering. I cannot imagine how Ashley is feeling without both parent;s, but to have her mom killed is just horrific and terrible. My heart goes out to both sides of the family. May we never forget Liana White.....
Bobbisangel
02-16-2007, 08:24 AM
I just feel bad for both families, Liana's and Mike's family are also suffering. I cannot imagine how Ashley is feeling without both parent;s, but to have her mom killed is just horrific and terrible. My heart goes out to both sides of the family. May we never forget Liana White.....
I feel bad for the killers family when they admit that their son did murder his wife and they don't rip the murdered wife to shreads. Otherwise....forget them. I don't have a clue if Mike's family think he is guilty or not. My heart goes out to Leanna's mom. She not only lost her daughter in the most horrible way a mother could lose her daughter but now she is beginning all over again raising a family, Don't get me wrong..I'm sure that she wants to raise Ashley and would fight for her...I've been there...but it isn't easy starting all over again when you are a grandmother. Bless her heart.
Three years after her death, the house where Liana White met her fate sits uninhabited.
While the home is full of belongings, no one has lived there since Michael White went to jail in 2006 for his wife's murder a year earlier, neighbours say.
"It's the empty house on the street," said Jenn Locke, who lives across from the White home.
But despite its eerie status, the house located at 227 Warwick Cres. in northwest Edmonton nevertheless is in decent shape.
The grass, which appears freshly cut, is actually shorter than a neighbour's lawn.
"As far as I know, a trustee has someone come by to mow the lawn," said a next-door neighbour, who did not want his name printed.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/07/28/6284571-sun.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/10/29/edm-white-appeal.html
snip~~
On Wednesday, White's lawyer, Hersh Wolch, argued the original trial judge made an error in law when she instructed the jury on how to reach a verdict.
"We're asking the court to set aside the conviction and have another trial where a jury can decide whether it's murder, manslaughter or not guilty," Wolch said outside the courthouse.
White did not appear in court Wednesday to hear the arguments.
"It's stressful. And he'll get the results ... sitting and listening to the arguments is painful and frankly all you folks are here and it's a lot of attention," Wolch said, referring to the media.
Liana White's mother, Maureen Kelly, was in court to hear the arguments, but declined to comment to reporters.
PattyCake
03-27-2009, 04:07 PM
Appeal lost. It was evident that this would happen. GOOD, and I hope he's tortured behind bars on a daily basis. I used to live in Edmonton and my aunt worked with his wife. :furious: freak!
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2009/03/27/8908206.html
May he rot for eternity. What I would like is a 24 hour feed on one of these low life wife murderers. MAYBE the hell they endure in prison would actually scare a few from trying to kill their wives? What a waste.
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