Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard left evidence because he didn't plan to kill, lawyer says
'The murder was not planned and deliberate,' Ravin Pillay says
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.
"The murder was not planned and deliberate," Pillay said early in his closing arguments. He then spent the day trying to chip away at the mountain of evidence presented against Millard at the trial.
- Tim Bosma trial: The beginning of the end
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Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., and Millard, 30, of Toronto have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Bosma, who was from 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.
In his closing, Pillay pointed the finger at Smich, saying Millard became an "accessory" after Smich killed Bosma — something he says his client didn't know was coming.
"The evidence shows Mr. Millard did not know Mr. Smich had brought a gun with him on the test drive," Pillay said.
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.
"He faced them, he was friendly," Pillay said. "He didn't attempt to hide in the shadows.
Where are the online searches about a murder or cleaning up after a murder?- Ravin Pillay, Dellen Millard's lawyer
"The Crown says Mr. Millard knew he would murder Mr. Bosma ... is this the demeanour of a man who is about to kill another man?" Pillay asked.
Smich, by contrast, was hanging back, and was described by witnesses as "sketchy."
"He was clearly trying to hide something," Pillay said.
Pillay also said the fact Millard told people about his intention to steal a truck, and that he didn't clear his cellphone browser history or turn off his phone, shows he wasn't planning to kill Bosma on May 6.
Pillay even went as far to question why, if Millard was planning to murder someone, there were no Google searches on his computers about the subject.
"Where are the online searches about a murder or cleaning up after a murder?"
Pillay also argued that if Millard had planned to commit a murder, he never would have brought his dog with him. "Why would anyone bring their dog on a planned and deliberate murder? It makes no sense."
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.
Millard had promised him a Cadillac in exchange for helping out with the successful theft of a truck — but there was no urgency to the plan, according to Pillay.
"On May 6, he took matters into his own hands. He brought his gun."
Pillay also zeroed in on the Crown's theory that Bosma was shot and killed in a farmer's field just minutes from his home. If Bosma had been killed there, someone would have noticed and there would be evidence, he said.
"No one heard a thing," Pillay said. "This deafening silence is evidence that speaks loudly about the implausibility about the Crown's theory."
"Where is the evidence of a shooting in that field? Where is the forensic evidence that a shooting took place in that field? Where is the glass ... where is the bullet?"
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.
Pillay said there's proof that Millard had many "diverse interests," and could have wanted to get into pet cremation.
"They could all be true," Pillay said. He also said that Millard wouldn't have been so open about the purchase of an incinerator if he planned to use it to burn a human body.
"It was acquired out in the open and there was a paper trial created through the company," Pillay said.
"Why would Mr. Millard let all these people see this device if the only reason he acquired it was to burn the body of someone whose truck he wanted to steal? It makes no sense."
Security camera video again a focus
Pillay spent a large chunk of his closing dissecting security camera video that was presented in the early days of the trial.
The security camera video from a business called Supersucker, which is near Bosma's home, shows the movement of what the Crown believes was Bosma's truck on May 6.
In the video, a pickup truck is seen going north on Trinity Road in Ancaster, Ont., near Bosma's home at 9:05 p.m., and then going south at 9:15 p.m.
It then goes north again at 9:20 p.m. followed by a GMC Yukon. Video expert Michael Plaxton previously said the truck was "consistent" with the Bosma truck, and the other vehicle was "consistent" with Millard's SUV.
Pillay told the jury that Plaxton omitted movements of the truck in his original report, and Smich then "concocted" a story to suit Plaxton's testimony.
Also at issue is the timestamp on the video. Plaxton testified that he was told by two sources — including a police officer — that the timestamp on the video was three hours off. Pillay cross-examined that officer, and said his written notes were not sufficient to prove the amount of time the video was off.
The CBC's Adam Carter is in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. You can read a recap of his live blog here. On mobile? View it here.
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