Crown closes case in Nicholas Butcher's murder trial

The Crown called a computer analyst to testify Wednesday in its final day of presenting evidence in the second-degree murder trial of Nicholas Butcher at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax. 

Butcher, 36, is accused of killing his girlfriend Kristin Johnston, a 32-year-old yoga instructor originally from Montreal. The court has heard Johnston was found dead at her Purcells Cove-area home on March 26, 2016. Butcher has pleaded not guilty.

The final Crown witness was Blair MacLellan, a digital forensic analyst. MacLellan analyzed electronic equipment seized from Johnston's home the day she died.

Accessing Facebook messages

Among the devices MacLellan looked at was a MacBook Pro laptop computer that he said belonged to Johnston.

MacLellan told the jury the laptop was accessed a number of times through the evening of March 25 and very early on the morning of March 26. He said the user looked at emails, Kijiji classifieds, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube and did web searches.

MacLellan said around 1:40 a.m., someone started looking at messages on Facebook. MacLellan said the Facebook messages would be the same on any device accessing that particular account.

Earlier in the trial, friends of Johnston's speculated that Nicholas Butcher accessed her Facebook account to find out where she was that night. Butcher showed up at the apartment where Johnston was with two friends.

Defence to reveal its plans Thursday

Admissions were put into court record Wednesday, including admissions that Butcher called 911 and was arrested at the scene.

Crown attorney Tanya Carter and Butcher's lawyer Peter Planetta also agreed the crime scene and exhibits were properly handled by police and that Dr. Simon Frank at the QEII hospital saw Butcher with a severed right hand and a laceration on his left arm.

Justice Josh Arnold told the jurors these admissions should be taken as facts.

The defence will not reveal until Thursday morning if it will call any evidence. If it does not, the case will likely go to closing arguments.

What the jury has heard

The court has heard evidence that Butcher, 36, cut off his hand with a saw and killed Johnston.

A Halifax Regional Police officer testified last week her head was covered with a pillow and a black-handled steak knife was next to her on the bed.

The medical examiner testified this week that Johnston bled out quickly after she was stabbed in the neck by a knife several times. 

The jury heard there was a short struggle at the scene and that Johnston's hands had what appeared to be defensive injuries, as though she was trying to ward off an attack.

A forensic DNA expert testified this week that both Johnston's and Butcher's DNA were found on the knife.

A mitre saw was found in the bedroom, the officer told the court, and Butcher's severed hand was beside the saw.

The trial began two weeks ago and is before a judge and jury. The Crown expects to call about 40 witnesses in the case, which is scheduled to run for 20 days.

The CBC's Blair Rhodes blogged from court. Those on mobile can read here.