BOSMA MURDER TRIAL: Trial Media/Doc Thread - ** No Discussion **

[Coldpizza]

Mark Smich must have buried gun in 'magical forest,' Millard's lawyer says
By Adam Carter, CBC News May 16, 2016

Mark Smich must have buried the gun he believes was used to kill Tim Bosma in "some magical forest," Dellen Millard's lawyer suggested in court Monday — because the accused killer can't remember anything about where he left it.

Dellen Millard's lawyer, Nadir Sachak, pressed Mark Smich in a Hamilton court about the gun he buried that could have helped determine who actually shot Tim Bosma.

"Is this some gun burial-induced amnesia?" Sachak said. "You seem to have forgotten every detail except it's buried in some magical forest."

[...]

'Did you shoot Tim Bosma?'

Sachak also played portions of video from Smich's interrogation by Hamilton police. In the video, Smich looks haggard, and is wrapped in a blanket.

"Where is that gun right now, Mark?" Hamilton police Staff Sgt. Matt Kavanagh asks in the 2013 video. "You can point me to evidence right now."

Smich would not look up, or respond to that question.

[...]

Smich says Millard pulled trigger

Last week, Smich told the jury his version of Bosma's last few hours, saying Millard pulled the trigger and killed Bosma. He said he buried the gun in a panic after Millard was arrested, but can't remember where. He also said he did not help Millard put Bosma's body in a livestock incinerator, giving Millard the excuse that he had a sore shoulder.

[...]

Noudga lied under oath, Smich says

As Smich continued testifying, Millard watched his onetime friend intently while taking notes. At one point, Smich called Millard's former girlfriend Christina Noudga "a liar." Noudga previously testified that she spoke to Smich on May 10, and that he was in a panic.

 

[Coldpizza]

Smich says he feared frame-up by Millard for Bosma murder
By MOLLY HAYESThe Hamilton Spectator
Mon., May 16, 2016

He claims to have no memory of where this “magical forest” (as Dellen Millard’s lawyer Nadir Sachak called it Monday) was, how long it took to ride there on his BMX bicycle, or even what direction it was in.

Even as Sachak grilled him repeatedly during cross-examination — “There are three detectives in this room. Tell them now. Tell them. Where did you bury that gun?” he asked at one point — Smich insisted he doesn’t remember.

He was shocked, paranoid, stressed, he said — the night was a blur in his mind.

[...]

When the gun was delivered to him in a toolbox after Millard’s arrest on May 10, 2013, Smich recalled that he was shocked — he thought Millard was trying to “frame” him.

He testified he had asked Millard’s roommates to get him the drugs stashed in the house, and so when his friend Arthur (whom Smich recruited to do the pickup) brought him a yellow toolbox, he was not surprised — he knew Millard to have kept drugs in there before.

It wasn’t until he broke open the locked box, Smich said, that he discovered the Walther PPK, which he recognized as the gun that he says Millard used to shoot Bosma.

 

[Coldpizza]

Mark Smich wrote rap lyrics about killing people
By Adam Carter, CBC News May 17,2016

WARNING: Story and blog contain graphic language which may be offensive to some readers

Co-accused Dellen Millard's lawyer, Nadir Sachak, continued his cross-examination, and displayed some of Smich's lyrics for the jury to see.

"Get slapped with my gun hand muthaphuka! Leave you dead, with some contraband muthaphuka!" Smich wrote.

"My 380 is NO stranger, when Im angered you're in danger."

[...]

Payment for truck theft?

On Tuesday, for the first time, Smich's payment for participating in the theft of a truck was discussed in court. Smich testified Millard gave him a few hundred dollars for work he had done prior to May 6, and then Millard have him around two ounces of marijuana after Bosma's death.

Smich said he was owed more money, but didn't get it.

"Why don't you tell the truth, you messed up Dell's plan to steal a Dodge 3500 when you put a bullet in Mr. Bosma's head ... that's why you didn't get paid," Sachak boomed in court. Smich said no, that's not the truth.

[...]

Millard beat his dog, court hears

In the court's afternoon session, Sachak asked Smich if Millard ever threatened or assaulted him. Smich said no, but told the jury that Millard did "assault" his dog if he "pooped or peed" in Millard's bed. That elicited murmuring in the courtroom, and Sachak quickly moved on.

Mark Smich's violent rap video at link^^^

 

[Coldpizza]

Rap lyrics weren’t about Tim Bosma murder, Mark Smich tells trial
By MOLLY HAYES The Hamilton Spectator
Tues., May 17, 2016

Mark Smich rapped about killing people — but he insists he’s not a killer.

“They’re just rhymes,” the 28-year-old said of the violent lyrics saved on his iPad — one of which had been modified just one day before his arrest on May 22, 2013.

But for his co-accused’s defence team, the raps paint a picture of who was holding the gun the night Tim Bosma was shot and killed.

In a home video shown to the jury on Tuesday, an angry looking Smich freestyle raps at the camera: “Peace *****, you’re deceased, kid/f--k with me Say10, the genius.”

“Is this what you thought when you killed Mr. Bosma?” defence lawyer Nadir Sachak asked, his voice booming.

 

[Coldpizza]

Mark Smich's story 'makes no sense,' Dellen Millard's lawyer says
By Adam Carter, CBC News May 18, 2016

Lawyer Nadir Sachak tells jury that it was Smich who shot Bosma, not Millard.

The story Mark Smich told about how Tim Bosma died that gripped a Hamilton courtroom last week "doesn't make any sense," say lawyers for Smich's co-accused, Dellen Millard.

[...]

"You'd agree with me that this is the stupidest plan Mr. Millard could ever have," he said — effectively suggesting that his client was too smart to have gone about committing a crime in the way Smich described.

Smich, however, was steadfast, and maintained that Millard shot Bosma while he was driving Bosma's pickup truck, and Smich was following behind in Millard's SUV.

[...]

Truck a 'killing scene,' lawyer says

"According to your evidence, the man who is so desperate for a diesel truck, turns a diesel truck into a killing scene," Sachak said, and Smich agreed.

"He has, in essence, destroyed the very item he was so desperate to drive away with, according to your version of events," Sachak said, adding that the truck's carpet and seats had to be stripped out because of all the blood.

"It must be so difficult for the Bosma family to hear this," Sachak said, after describing the scene of "blood and gore," inside the truck.

[...]

No walkie-talkies or lookouts

Sachak also pointed out other methods Millard would sometimes employ when looking to steal something — like walkie-talkies and lookouts. None of those were used on the night that Bosma died.

"All three of you were in the truck when Mr. Bosma was shot," Sachak said, but Smich countered that that isn't true.

 

[Coldpizza]

Millard’s lawyer slow to the point in Smich’s cross-exam
Hamilton Spectator
By Susan Clairmont

It makes sense for accused killer Mark Smich to be on the stand longer than anyone else at the Tim Bosma murder trial.

If the opposing counsel's strategy is to wear him down though, it might be time to rethink that.

Smich is entering his fourth day of cross-examination by Nadir Sachak, lawyer for co-accused Dellen Millard. And the narrative has only just gotten to the point where Tim heads out with Millard and Smich for the fatal test drive of the truck he was selling.

[...]

After all these hours, Sachak hasn't brought Smich's testimony to the most salient moments yet.

It is not that a lawyer should ever rush. Especially not with the most critical witness — a defendant — in a first-degree murder case. But a lawyer should make progress, connecting the dots to create a picture for jurors that doesn't leave them guessing as to what the final image will turn out to be.

Sachak is an experienced and very intelligent lawyer. He has shown that repeatedly since this trial began more than three months ago.

 

[Sillybilly]

Bosma trial: Millard’s lawyer claims Smich was deliberate in his moves
Hamilton Spectator
By Molly Hayes

Dellen Millard's defence team pointed to a photo of a smiling Mark Smich at his sister's wedding as proof that the accused killer was not in a "state of shock" as he claims after the murder of Tim Bosma.

Lawyer Nadir Sachak wrapped up five days of cross examination Friday with a list of 10 things that Mark Smich did after Millard's arrest that he says show Smich had a "conscious and operating mind," and knew "exactly" what he was doing

[...]

"I have no more questions," Sachak said, as the photo lingered on the screens around the courtroom for the jury to see.

Smich will be back on the stand Tuesday (after the long weekend), when the Crown will begin their cross-examination.

 

[Coldpizza]

Tim Bosma trial this week: The cross-examination of Mark Smich
CBC News Posted: May 21, 2016

WARNING: This story contains graphic language

Accused killer Mark Smich spent the entire week at the Tim Bosma trial in Hamilton being cross-examined by the lawyer representing Dellen Millard, his co-accused.

Nadir Sachak's questioning of Smich focused mostly on his testimony about what happened the night Bosma died after taking two strangers on a test drive of a pickup truck he was trying to sell. And who shot the father of one.

Smich testified that he wasn't in the truck when Millard shot Bosma, but in previous testimony about text messages Millard sent to his girlfriend at the time, he indicated Smich was the shooter.

Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., and Millard, 30, of Toronto, have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.​

[...]

Violent rap lyrics

​On Tuesday, the jury heard that Smich wrote rap lyrics about killing people and running from the police. Sachak displayed some of the lyrics for the jury to see.

"Get slapped with my gun hand muthaphuka! Leave you dead, with some contraband muthaphuka!" Smich wrote.

[...]

​The accusation

​Sachak told the jury mid-week that Smich's story "doesn't make any sense." He continued to attempt to discredit Smich's version of events from the night Bosma was killed.

Sachak said that Millard "has, in essence, destroyed the very item he was so desperate to drive away with, according to your version of events," and added that the truck's carpet and seats had to be stripped out because of all the blood.

 

[Coldpizza]

Tim Bosma trial: Millard and Smich planned to kill, steal truck and burn body, Crown says
By Adam Carter, CBC News Posted: May 24, 2016

Prosecutor says plan had been in the works for more than a year

Dellen Millard and Mark Smich planned all along to kill Tim Bosma in order to steal his pickup truck, and then burn the body, the prosecutor said Tuesday at the trial of the two men accused of killing the Hamilton man.

Crown Craig Fraser began his cross-examination of Smich, who was in the witness box for the eighth day, focusing his questions on pieces of evidence that suggested months of planning by the pair before Bosma's death and on their efforts to cover it up afterward.

[...]

Incinerator cleaned out, Crown says

But Smich left out one crucial thing he had done, Fraser alleged — and that was cleaning out the incinerator in which Bosma was burned. According to Smich's testimony, he was not involved with Bosma's death, nor the incineration of his body.

Millard's lawyers have presented a story in which Smich was the shooter, while the Crown alleges both men were involved from the start.

[...]

'A truck was easy for you guys'

Smich appeared much quieter and more reserved when answering questions from the Crown. It was a stark difference from the verbal jabs he hurled at Millard's lawyers during their cross-examination last week.

Fraser, by contrast, was more forceful with Smich than he has been with any witness at the trial.

[...]

Crown displays texts, alleges planning

The Crown displayed text messages that showed Millard and Smich discussing incinerators and bullets as far back as April 2012.

"Reminds me, Shane's starting modification on the white van for search and capture missions," Millard wrote in an April 6, 2013, text. Smich then responded, "I love search and destroy. Lol."

 

[Coldpizza]

Smich and Millard planned Tim Bosma murder for 15 months, Crown charges
By LIAM CASEY The Canadian Press
May 25, 2016

“That was the plan that the two of you, working together, performed with chilling perfection,” Crown attorney Craig Fraser suggested to Mark Smich who, with co-accused Dellen Millard, is charged with murder in the death of Tim Bosma.


Smich and Millard were excellent thieves and wouldn’t have taken 15 months to come up with a plan to steal a truck, Fraser put to Smich, who has taken the stand in his own defence.

[...]

Fraser guided the accused through Smich’s own testimony that showed at least 10 deliberate acts to cover up the killing. Smich agreed he helped Millard cover up the crime by getting rid of evidence, which included burying the gun he said Millard used somewhere in a forest in Oakville, Ont.

The gun has never been found. Smich again told court he was terrified of his friend and did whatever he was told.

 

[Coldpizza]

Bosma may have died minutes after leaving home, Crown says, as testimony ends
By MOLLY HAYESHamilton Spectator
Wed., May 25, 2016


After 16 weeks, the jury at the Tim Bosma murder trial has heard all the evidence there is to hear.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that is the evidence in this case,” Justice Andrew Goodman told the jury after an “exhausted” Mark Smich wrapped up nine days on the stand Wednesday.

His lawyer Thomas Dungey ended his re-examination with a single pointed question: “Did you kill Mr. Bosma?” he asked his client.

“No,” Smich replied.

Smich, 28, and his co-accused Dellen Millard, 30, are on trial for the first-degree murder of Ancaster dad Tim Bosma, who, by all accounts, was killed for his diesel pickup.

The two men have pointed the finger squarely at each other — but the Crown says the pair came up with, and executed, their lethal plan together.

Tim Bosma trial: Jury has now heard all evidence — trial resumes Tuesday
May 26, 2016

Here's what's next

Though the evidence is complete, the trial is not yet finished. All of the lawyers will now meet with Justice Andrew Goodman for a two-part "pre-charge conference" before closing arguments and Goodman's charge to the jury.

The trial schedule has been revised. The jury will now be back on Tuesday May 31 not June 1.

Earlier in the day, the Crown alleged that Bosma was shot in a field just minutes away from his home, and both Millard and Smich were in on the plan.

Fraser told the jury the Crown's theory is Bosma was shot in a field just around the corner from his rural home in Ancaster, Ont., shortly after leaving his house with Millard and Smich to take them on a test drive of a pickup truck he was trying to sell.

[...]

Coincidence or plan?

In previous testimony, Smich told the jury that he and Millard never drove Bosma's truck into a field. Rather, he said, they stopped the truck on the side of the road, Smich got out, and then followed behind Millard and Bosma in Millard's SUV.

Fraser noted that according to that testimony, Bosma was in the front passenger seat, and they would have driven past Millard's SUV in the empty field.

"Past the Yukon with its lights out and nobody in it. If you're Mr. Bosma and you're sitting in that passenger seat, you'd see that parked blue Yukon with no lights and nobody in it," Fraser said.

[...]

That was the choice you made'

Fraser also said that Smich made the conscious choice to follow Millard to his farm, and then to the hangar where Bosma was burned.

"You followed him sir, that was a choice you made, because it was part of the plan," Fraser said. Smich again said no.

 

[Coldpizza]

The Tim Bosma trial in 10 exhibits
CBC News Posted: May 30, 2016

Here's a look at 10 key exhibits that are playing a major role in the trial of the two men accused of the murder of Hamilton's Tim Bosma.

After four months, the jury has heard all the evidence that will be presented. Mark Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., and Dellen Millard, 30, of Toronto, have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Ontario Superior Court.

Bosma vanished on May 6, 2013, after taking Smich and Millard on a test drive in a pickup truck he was trying to sell. ​Investigators later found charred human remains, believed to belong to Bosma, in a livestock incinerator on Millard's farm in Ayr, Ont.

10. Millard's letters to Christina Noudga

9. The Eliminator

8. The cell phone records

7. The blood

6. The bone fragments

5. The toolbox

4. The gun

3. The hangar video

2. The gloves

1. The truck in the hangar

 

[Coldpizza]

Dellen Millard left evidence because he didn't plan to kill, lawyer says
By Adam Carter, CBC News May 31, 2016

Dellen Millard wouldn't have left behind so much damning evidence if he were planning a murder, his lawyer said Tuesday in closing arguments at the trial of Millard and Mark Smich, both accused of killing Tim Bosma of Hamilton.

The crux of Ravin Pillay's final argument to jurors was that Millard is an intelligent person, so he wouldn't have acted as he did if he were planning a murder, as the Crown alleges. That element of planning is a crucial part of the Crown's case in pushing for a first-degree murder conviction.

[...]

Smich described as 'sketchy'

In court's morning session, Millard's lawyer ran through a host of things Millard did or didn't do around the time Bosma died.

For one, Millard didn't attempt to conceal himself in any way on May 6 — with Bosma's wife, Sharlene Bosma, and the family's tenant, Wayne De Boer, both seeing his face — before Bosma took him and Smich on a test drive of a truck he was trying to sell.

[...]

Desperate for money

Millard's lawyer laid out for the jury his allegation for Smich's motivations to kill Bosma. He said that in May 2013, Smich was in desperate need for money. He was planning to move to Calgary to be with his sister, but needed cash.

"Life for him was bleak," Pillay said.

[...]

Why would Millard buy an incinerator?

Pillay also addressed one of the trial's nagging questions: why would Millard need an industrial animal incinerator?

The jury has heard that Millard told some people he bought it to get into the business of incinerating dead animals for veterinarians, while he told his former girlfriend that he bought it to melt metals related to his aviation business.

 

[Coldpizza]

Clairmont: A dramatic closing argument at Bosma trial, but with a major flaw
Hamilton Spectator
By Susan Clairmont

There was drama. Eloquence. Clarity and common sense. An impressive use of technology.

Ravin Pillay's closing address on Tuesday to the jury on behalf of his client, accused killer Dellen Millard, was among the best I've seen. His ability to steer the jurors through 16 weeks of evidence in a single day — and reshape it to his liking — was truly astounding, making me pause many times to reconsider issues I thought I had already decided.

(Had the murder for a truck really been planned for more than a year? If so, why did Millard do so many dumb things, like steal a truck he could afford to buy? And ruin it by committing a murder inside it? Park it in his mother's driveway? And spend $15,000 for an incinerator to dispose of the body plus $8,000 to build a trailer for the incinerator, for a total of $23,000 when the truck was worth only $24,000?)

However, there is one rather fat flaw in his address that I'm not sure what to do with. Perhaps Justice Andrew Goodman will deal with it in his upcoming charge to the jury.

 

[Coldpizza]

Dellen Millard was too smart to have killed Tim Bosma: accused’s lawyer
Adrian Humphreys | May 31, 2016

HAMILTON, Ont. — The embarrassment of evidence presented by prosecutors to convict Dellen Millard of the planned murder of Tim Bosma is, in fact, evidence of his innocence because the accused killer is too smart and too cautious to concoct such a messy, haphazard killing, Millard’s lawyer told the jury in a marathon closing address.

The 2013 killing of Bosma, a 32-year-old Hamilton father, while on a test drive of a pickup truck he was selling online, left a littered trail of evidence leading police directly to Millard within days.

Ravin Pillay pointed to the Crown’s own detailed chronicling of that evidence over four months of trial as the road map to his client’s acquittal.

Millard had “exacting standards” and was “cautious” in his plans, was smart and talented with great resources at his disposal, he said.

[...]


Instead, Pillay said, it shows Millard was taken by surprise when his friend and co-accused, Mark Smich, shot Bosma, leaving him to react “moment to moment” to cover up a killing he might be blamed for.

“Mr. Millard was desperately reacting to an unforeseen and unplanned death — not a planned and foreseeable murder.

“It is clear he is figuring things out as he goes along,” said Pillay, creating a “deeper and deeper hole for himself as the hours and days went by.

“He was ensnared in Mr. Smich’s mess and there was no easy way out. He had crossed a point of no return.”

 

[Coldpizza]

'Fumbling amateurs' would have left evidence, lawyer says
By Adam Carter, CBC News Posted: Jun 01, 2016

Mark Smich and Dellen Millard were amateurs fumbling in the dark on the night Tim Bosma died in 2013, Smich's lawyer says, so it makes no sense they didn't leave any evidence behind in the field where the Crown alleges the Hamilton man died.

Thomas Dungey laid responsibility for the murder in the hands of Dellen Millard, saying there is a "mountain of independent evidence" against him and that his attempts at witness tampering from behind bars show the "criminal mind" of a guilty man.

[...]

Millard's letters provide glimpse into his mind, lawyer says

Dungey also spent a large chunk of his closing on the letters Millard sent to his girlfriend, Christina Noudga, from jail. That damning evidence shows that Millard was ready and willing to frame Smich, Dungey said.

"That's what this letter shows — the depth of this demonic mind," Dungey said.

[...]

Dungey addresses gun burial amnesia

Smich's lawyer also addressed one of the most damning pieces of evidence against Smich — that he buried what's believed to be the murder weapon.

According to Smich's testimony in court, he buried the gun in a forest, somewhere in Oakville, and now can't remember where it is. No gun ever was recovered.

[...]

Marathon cross-examination

Throughout a marathon cross-examination, Millard's lawyers dissected some of Smich's rap lyrics, alleging that it gave a glimpse into Smich's innermost thoughts — much like Dungey alleged with Millard's letters from jail.

On Wednesday, Dungey said you can't analyze rap lyrics as if they're confessions of fact.

 

[Coldpizza]

Dellen Millard called a ‘cold-hearted killer’ and ‘demonic,’ as Smich’s lawyer makes final pitch to jury
Adrian Humphreys | June 2, 2016

HAMILTON, Ont. — As if struggling not to call accused killer Dellen Millard a psychopath, a lawyer berated Millard’s “twisted, demented,” “demonic,” “cold-blooded, criminal mind” — the “mind of a killer” — in an impassioned address to the jury in the Tim Bosma murder trial.

As the four-month murder trial draws toward a close, it was the turn of the lawyer for Millard’s co-accused, Mark Smich, to make his final pitch to jurors on Wednesday, saying a “mountain of evidence” puts responsibility for Bosma’s death on Millard alone.

[...]

He was “arrogant and elitist,” Dungey said, disregarding other people, society and the law.

“I’m Millard! I can do anything! I can kill with impunity! That’s the Millard before this court,” said Dungey. Millard’s tattoos say it all, he said, showing police photos of Millard’s forearms: “I am heaven sent” is written on one and “Don’t you dare forget” on the other.

[...]

The fact that Smich chose to testify while Millard declined was Dungey’s ace, a point he highlighted again and again over more than four hours.

Only three people were there when Bosma was killed; “Mr. Bosma is no longer with us. Mr. Millard chose not to testify. But Mr. Smich gave sworn testimony — he spent days on the stand.”

In law, only sworn testimony from a witness is considered “evidence” at trial and Millard’s version of events came only through his lawyer’s claims.

 

[Sillybilly]

Tim Bosma trial: It doesn't matter who pulled trigger, both are guilty, Crown says
By Adam Carter, CBC News Posted: Jun 02, 2016 8:29 AM ET| Last Updated: Jun 02, 2016 5:04 PM ET

[...]

To end his closing arguments, Leitch referred to the closing from Millard's lawyer Ravin Pillay, who said his client had "everything to live for" — and that's why he wouldn't have killed Bosma.

"Tim Bosma had everything to live for," Leitch said as a reply. "And his used truck was not worth dying for."

Bosma was kind, decent, and not violent, Leitch said. He wouldn't have fought the two men as Millard's counsel suggested — not with his wife and two-year-old daughter waiting at home.

"Don't be deceived," he said. "When you retire to consider your verdict, don't forget about Tim, who is not here to tell you what really happened."

[...]

Goodman's charge is expected to take two days to complete. It will start on Friday, June 10, and then continue on Monday, June 13.

When the charge is complete, the jury will be sequestered until a verdict is reached.

 

[Coldpizza]

Tim Bosma trial: The closing arguments
CBC News Posted: Jun 04, 2016 Last Updated: Jun 06, 2016

It was a week of final words at the trial of the two men accused in the murder of Hamilton's Tim Bosma.

Lawyers representing the Crown and accused killers Dellen Millard and Mark Smich made their final arguments to the jury in Ontario Superior Court.

The case for Dellen Millard

​Millard's lawyer Ravin Pillay began the week by suggesting to the jury that his client was too smart to have acted the way he did if he was planning a murder. He wouldn't have left behind so much damning evidence, Pillay said Tuesday in his closing argument. He added that the element of planning is a crucial part of the Crown's case in pushing for a first-degree murder conviction.

"The murder was not planned and deliberate," Pillay told the jurors. He then spent the day trying to chip away at the mountain of evidence presented against Millard at the trial.

[...]

The case for Mark Smich

On Wednesday, it was Thomas Dungey's turn. Smich's lawyer laid full responsibility for the murder on Millard, saying there is a "mountain of independent evidence" against him and that his attempts at witness tampering from behind bars show the "criminal mind" of a guilty man.

The lawyer began his closing argument by attempting to poke holes in the Crown's theory that Bosma was shot in a field not far from his home. No evidence was ever found in that field, Dungey said.

 

[Coldpizza]

Crown must prove planning to get 1st-degree murder conviction, judge says
By Adam Carter, CBC News Jun 10, 2016

Jurors shouldn't consider sympathy for Bosma in verdict, judge says in final charge

The only way the jury at the Tim Bosma trial can find Dellen Millard and Mark Smich guilty of first-degree murder is if the Crown has successfully proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Bosma's death was planned and deliberate, the judge said Friday in his final charge to the jury.

Justice Andrew Goodman began his extremely technical two-day instructions to jurors to help guide them on the legal principles of the case, and on how they should weigh the evidence they have heard over the last four months before reaching a verdict.

[...]

At the outset of the trial, Goodman told the jury that two possible routes to first-degree murder might arise from the evidence in the case as alleged by the Crown — one would be planning and deliberation, and the other would be forcible confinement.

However, on Friday, Goodman told the jury that they cannot return a verdict of first-degree murder in this case by virtue of Millard or Smich unlawfully confining Bosma — which leaves the Crown with only one route to first-degree murder, instead of two.

Aiding and abetting

Goodman also touched on aiders and abettors in the case. An aider is a person who helped somebody commit an offence. An abettor is a person who encouraged a person to commit an offence. In both of those cases, a person can be found guilty of murder, even if they didn't commit the actual murder.

Lifestyle choices not on trial

The judge also addressed the mountain of bad-character evidence brought forward against Millard and Smich at trial, spanning from drug use to thievery and gun ownership.

Goodman said just because Millard and Smich committed other criminal offences doesn't mean they're guilty of murder.