Tim Bosma trial: It doesn't matter who pulled trigger, both are guilty, Crown says
Closing arguments complete, jury will deliberate after judge's charge
It doesn't matter who pulled the trigger and shot Tim Bosma — both Dellen Millard and Mark Smich are equally guilty, the Crown said Thursday during closing arguments at the trial of the two men accused of killing the Hamilton man.
Assistant Crown attorney Tony Leitch addressed the trial's biggest question: Who actually killed Tim Bosma?
"You may never be sure about every aspect of what happened, and you don't need to be. None of you need to decide exactly who did what," Leitch told jurors.
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"If there was one shooter, does that mean the other non-shooter is not guilty? Not at all."
Millard's and Smich's respective defence teams have tried to make this case as a "choice between shooters," Leitch said — but in the end, it doesn't matter.
"If you are spending your time trying to decide who did what, you are missing the point."
Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., and Millard, 30, of Toronto, have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
What idiots plan to kill someone inside the truck, leaving the huge mess?- Tony Leitch, assistant Crown attorney
Bosma, who lived in the Ancaster area of Hamilton, disappeared on May 6, 2013, after going on a test drive with Smich and Millard in a pickup truck he was trying to sell.
Leitch also addressed the lack of motive. The Crown hasn't presented a concrete motive — and it isn't obliged to, he said.
"It seems absurd to murder a man for a used truck, but that's what they did. Killers are not always rational," he said.
"The fact is, sometimes people are just killers ... it is horrifying and senseless, but it is what happened here."
Why show your face?
Both Millard's lawyers and Smich's lawyers have raised the same question to the jury: Why would the two accused killers show their faces at Bosma's home if they planned to kill him?
Leitch told the jury that for these two, the fear of being identified was a "non issue" because they "planned to kill the target."
"Dead men don't do photo lineups," Leitch said.
Millard and Smich didn't count on being seen by Bosma's wife, Sharlene, and the couple's downstairs tenant, Wayne De Boer, Leitch said. That's why Smich had his hood up, and was hanging back from the others.
Millard, by contrast, was OK with taking the chance, Leitch said.
"He's overconfident. He thinks he's untouchable."
Both of the accused's legal teams have said that the other accused deviated from the initial plan to just "scope" the truck and then steal it later.
Leitch didn't buy that, but did agree that they did deviate from the plan in one important way — that the plan was to kill Bosma outside of the truck, not inside.
Timeline revisted
"What idiots plan to kill someone inside the truck, leaving the huge mess? ... Something happened this night to spoil the plan," Leitch said. "It was the murder inside the tuck that was not part of the plan."
Over and over in front of the jury, the Crown pounded home its assertion that Millard and Smich were working together leading up to Bosma's death, to kill him, and to clean it up.
Leitch touched on texts from Millard and Smich from as far back as 2011, in an attempt to show they had been planning the theft of a truck and to murder for over a year.
Leitch also addressed the fact that Millard didn't try to hide that he was planning to steal from friends like Andrew Michalski, who knew about his plans before Bosma's death. Millard's defence has said this shows Millard wasn't planning to kill.
Leitch said that isn't true.
"In his mind, Millard believed he could control all these people. Such was his overconfidence."
Millard's jailhouse letters again a focus
The Crown delved into Millard's jailhouse letters to his then-girlfriend Christina Noudga again. The letters contained some of the most damning evidence against him.
"He killed Tim Bosma, and would do anything to avoid a conviction for murder," Leitch said.
"He was willing to create perjury," Leitch said, before illustrating a small sample of all the ways Millard tried to influence future witnesses like Noudga and Andrew Michalski from behind bars.
In some cases, Millard was telling Noudga they needed to "get their stories straight," while in others, he was trying to get Noudga to reach out to Michalski to get him to change his testimony.
"He was grasping for a lie in an attempt to work on you, the jury," Leitch said.
The Crown then outlined the four different possible defences Millard talked about in his letters.
"How can you have any doubt with this pattern of fabricated defences that the one presented here is fabricated too?" Leitch asked.
Judge's charge last step of trial
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."
With closing statements finished, the last step of the trial before jurors are sequestered to deliberate on a verdict is the judge's charge to the jury.
In his charge, Justice Andrew Goodman will guide the jury on the legal principles of the case, and on how they should weigh the wealth evidence they have heard over the last four months.
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.
The CBC's Adam Carter is in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. On mobile? You can view a recap of his blog here.
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