SAINT JOHN, NB – It was day five on the witness stand Wednesday for a Saint John police officer at the second degree murder trial of Dennis Oland.
Oland is charged with killing his father, well known Saint John businessman Richard Oland, in July of 2011.
Sergeant Mark Smith is the Chief Forensics Officer with the Saint John Police Force. The defense in this trial has been waiting several days to cross examine Smith, who is a key witness for the prosecution in this case.
His direct examination took portions of four days to complete and with the defense ready to take it’s turn, it covered a lot of different areas today.
Defense lawyer Gary Miller took the court in a number of different directions, with one of the focuses on Dennis Oland’s car, which was seized from his home.
Smith had earlier said he searched the car meticulously. In fact Miller suggested fifteen or sixteen hours were spent searching the car over three days with nothing coming up positive for blood, although other items were sent off for further analysis.
The court also saw a surveillance video from Thandi’s restaurant across from Oland’s office from the 6th of July, the evening Richard Oland is believed to have been killed. The video shows a 6:12 p.m. time stamp of a man resembling Dennis Oland crossing the street carrying a red bag. A red reusable grocery bag has also been introduced in this case. One was seized from Oland’s car and it and the items inside were examined with no evidence of blood found.
The defense returned to the second floor bathroom outside Richard Oland’s office as well today. That’s the one the court was earlier told had been used by police two days before being examined by forensics.
Under cross examination Sgt. Smith confirmed blood found on a paper towel in the bathroom garbage can as well as in the sink were not connected to the homicide. The Sergeant also testified there was no evidence of any cleaning up after the killing.
The subject of Dennis Oland’s shoes was also dealt with. Several pairs of shoes were seized from Oland’s home and several pictures of his shoes taken even during his police interview. No blood was ever found on any of his shoes.
The trial continues Thursday.
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