Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard's friend was arrested but released
Andrew Michalski told police about toolbox, volunteered blood sample
Dellen Millard's friend Andrew Michalski was also arrested in connection with the death of Hamilton man Tim Bosma, court heard Wednesday, but he was questioned and subsequently released without charge.
The arrest occurred on May 13, 2013 — just days after Millard was arrested. In his first meeting with police, Michalski didn't tell investigators about a key piece of evidence in the Bosma case and deleted text messages with Millard's co-accused Mark Smich, Ontario Superior Court heard Wednesday.
Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., are charged with first-degree murder in Bosma's death. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Michalski returned to the witness box for a second day on Wednesday and testified that he gave two statements to the police — and in the first, he didn't tell investigators about a backpack full of drugs and a toolbox that he had dropped off for Smich. The Crown alleges the toolbox had contained a gun.
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"I didn't think it had any significance," Michalski testified. He came clean in his second statement, court heard, and also voluntarily provided a blood sample to police.
Michalski also deleted several text messages between him and Smich because he was "scared at the time," he said. Court heard he later volunteered his phone and its records to police.
'Irrespective of whatever debts Dellen might have had ... or loans he hadn't paid, in your mind, you're like "Buddy, you're loaded, you could pick up a $20,000 truck?'''- Nadir Sachak, Dellen Millard's lawyer
Bosma, who lived in the suburban Ancaster area of Hamilton, vanished on May 6, 2013, after taking two men 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 Waterloo, Ont.
In his second day of testimony, Michalski clarified one of his statements about Smich. On Tuesday, Michalski said that Smich was sick on May 5, 2013, and that was why he and Millard didn't steal a truck they had taken for a test drive that day.
Today, he told the jury that Smich had been "hung over."
Michalski also had contact with Millard's girlfriend Christina Noudga and mother, Madeleine Burns, after Millard was arrested, court heard, to give them Millard's dog.
Millard had money, jury hears
Millard's lawyer Nadir Sachak spent much of his cross-examination asking about Michalski's involvement in the theft of a Bobcat tractor with Millard and Smich in October 2012.
Sachak alleged that Michalski and his friends did it for a sense of adventure and a rush, but Michalski said that wasn't the case.
"Nobody coerced you to do it?" Sachak asked. "No sir," Michalski responded. "I did it because it was easy enough."
"Did somebody put a gun to your head, somebody dragged you out in handcuffs?" Sachak asked. "No sir," Michalski said.
Sachak also asked Michalski to clarify his statement that he told Millard to "f--k off" after Millard asked him if he should steal a truck from "the asshole or the nice guy."
"It's like, 'f--k off, you've got the money, right? You've got the money, you don't need to steal?" Sachak said.
"That's right," Michalski answered.
Theft plan no secret
Millard's financial status has come up in questioning over and over during the course of the trial, and Sachak raised the subject again with Michalski.
"Irrespective of whatever debts Dellen might have had … or loans he hadn't paid, in your mind, you're like 'Buddy, you're loaded, you could pick up a $20,000 truck?'" Sachak asked, and again Michalski said yes.
Millard also made no secret of his plans to steal the truck, Sachak said. "He tells you that. No secret," Sachak said. "None," Michalski answered.
Michalski also agreed that Smich "controlled his movements" when it came to dropping off the backpack full of drugs from Millard's home along with a toolbox that Millard had given mutual friend Matt Hagerman.
"You and Hagerman did what Smich told you to," Sachak said. "That night," Michalski responded.
Smich's lawyer Thomas Dungey started his cross-examination Wednesday, and also focused on Millard's wealth, in an attempt to show Millard used money as a power play among his younger friends. Michalski testified that Millard paid for expenses on vacations, let him use his cars and often hosted parties.
Millard was 'the driving force'
Dungey asked Michalski: "There's a big attraction to Mr. Millard as he's supplying the residence for the parties … and supplying the weed. So that's why he had these young people there?"
Michalski, who is four years younger than Millard, agreed.
Dungey also asked about when Michalski and his group of friends first started stealing, and Michalski said it was on "Devil's night," on Oct. 30 in 2011. The group — which included Hagerman and Millard — broke into a nursery and stole plants for Millard's garden.
"He was the driving force," Michalski said. "I think we were all drunk and on drugs and wanted to do something fun."
Dungey then asked if Millard was "into any other thieving" between that incident and the Bobcat theft. Millard's lawyers quickly objected, and the jury was sent out during legal arguments.
Upon their return, Justice Andrew Goodman told the jury to disregard Dungey's question.
CBC reporter Adam Carter is in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. You can view a recap of his live blog here: