Crime scene reconstructionist tells trial he doesn't believe Wayne Millard shot himself
Death was originally ruled a suicide, but his son Dellen is on trial accused of killing his father
A crime scene reconstructionist who analyzed photos of the bedroom where Wayne Millard's body was found testified in court Thursday that he doesn't think the 71-year-old aviation executive shot himself.
Det. Const. Grant Sutherland, an officer with Toronto police's firearms analysis and investigation unit, was asked by Crown attorney Jill Cameron whether he thought Millard fired the pistol that killed him.
"I don't believe that he did," Sutherland testified in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto at the trial of Millard's son Dellen, who is accused of murdering his father.
Sutherland said that for Wayne Millard to have shot himself in the way he was positioned, he would have to hold a gun in a way that no one ever really holds a gun. He also noted there was no gunshot residue found on Millard's left hand, which is the hand he would have had to use to shoot himself.
Millard's death was originally ruled a suicide. He was found at his home at 5 Maple Gate Court in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke with a single gunshot wound through his eye on Nov. 29, 2012.
Dellen Millard, 32, who lived in the house with his father, was charged with first-degree murder in the death after police started investigating the murders of Tim Bosma, a father and husband from Hamilton, and Laura Babcock, a Toronto woman he had been involved with.
He is currently serving consecutive life sentences for those slayings. Millard has pleaded not guilty to killing his father at the judge-alone trial.
Trying to find a match
Court saw multiple videos of Sutherland firing bullet after bullet into a mannequin's head Thursday, trying to recreate the gunshot residue pattern found on Wayne Millard's pillow.
He testified that he could not recreate it exactly, which he attributed to the fact that a Styrofoam head reacts differently to being shot than a human head, which would in turn affect the way gunshot residue fell on the pillow.
Dellen Millard leaned forward and watched intently as Sutherland broke down the different parts of the .32-calibre Smith & Wesson revolver that killed his father.
Court has previously heard the younger Millard bought the gun illegally from a Toronto-area weapon's dealer.
He said it would be technically possible for Millard to hold and fire the gun in his left hand. He attempted to demonstrate this from the witness box by holding the gun and bending his arm at the elbow and his hand at the wrist, with his thumb on the trigger.
"It is a very unlikely handling of the gun, very difficult to recreate," he said.
Cross-examination coming Friday
Millard's lawyer, Ravin Pillay, did not conduct his cross-examination Thursday.
He asked the judge to hold it over until Friday, saying a number of things came up in Sutherland's testimony that he needed to "digest."
The reconstructionist is one of the Crown's final witnesses. Pillay plans to argue Friday that his evidence should not be considered as part of the judge's decision.
Usually, those legal arguments would have to be kept secret until a trial's jury retired to consider a verdict — but because this trial is before a judge alone, it will be done out in the open.
The Crown expects to close its case on Friday.
Then, it will be up to Pillay to decide if he will call any defence witnesses.
Follow along with the CBC's live blog from inside the courtroom below. On mobile and can't see it? View the live blog here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
