Truth and Honour

by Greg Marquis

  In 2011, Tom Oland, a cousin of the victim, told a reporter that he had been interviewed by the SJPF, who asked if he possessed a drywall hammer. According to Oland, who presumably was not the only interviewee asked this question, “the only weapon they mentioned was a drywall hammer.”12 Dennis was not queried about tools or weapons during his five-hour police interview, probably because investigators as of July 6, 2011, had not had sufficient time to study the victim’s wounds. It is possible that he was asked about a drywall hammer on the day of his arrest, but the transcript of that interview was not used in court as an exhibit.

  Although not generally known to the public at the time, one factor delaying the investigation was a bottleneck in sending and receiving exhibits for testing at the RCMP crime labs. In 2012, the allegedly tough-on-crime Harper government sought further budgetary reductions from the RCMP. That year, the RCMP announced that three of its six crime labs, including the Halifax lab that processed Oland investigation exhibits, would be shut down.13 The SJPF had to discuss testing strategy in advance with lab consultants in Halifax or Ottawa, each request had to be approved from Ottawa, and then a limited number of items were forwarded at a time. Once those test results were completed, another batch of exhibits could be sent. Another cause for delay is when newer investigative techniques come on line and exhibits are returned for new testing. On July 21, 2011, the SJPF sent the swabs from Oland’s fingernails and his blood sample from the hospital for DNA typing, and swabs from the inner door handle and the hatch release of Dennis Oland’s VW Golf to the crime lab. A few days later, Judge McCarroll issued a production order for the victim’s CIBC financial records. The SJPF began to analyse these records, which would form a key part of the prosecution’s case, on August 11, 2011. On August 4, 2011, McCarroll granted a general warrant for the items seized at the Oland house. Around this time, the department issued a statement explaining that it was awaiting the results of forensic exhibits seized during the course of the investigation. On August 11, McCarroll issued a search warrant pertaining to Dennis Oland’s computer at CIBC Wood Gundy. This would prove to be a controversial issue during pretrial hearings in 2015.

  Given that no murder weapon was ever discovered, DNA would prove the only forensic evidence in the Oland case that could suggest a physical link between the suspect and the victim. Yet as would be seen, DNA evidence in itself is not automatic proof of guilt. One sign that investigators may have been worried about the DNA angle was an attempt by the SJPF to enlist advice or involvement from Dr. Henry Lee, the famous forensic scientist involved with the O. J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey cases. At the suggestion of Chief Reid, information on the case was mailed to Lee, presumably at his Institute of Forensic Science at New Haven University, but investigators did not receive a reply.

  In the meantime, forensic officers worked on seized items. Constable Shawn Coughlan, for example, was tasked with reviewing the search history of the three computers seized from 58 Gondola Point Road. Browser histories often contain evidence of premeditation. During the Oland trial, the defence mentioned the Melanie Getson murder of 2010. Her estranged husband, Jason, had brutally stabbed her in a Saint John parking lot in view of witnesses. A search of his workplace computer revealed searches on a Canadian Tire website for hunting knives. Two days before the attack, Getson had purchased two knives from the retailer. Getson was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to second-degree. Both the Crown and the defence supported Justice Hugh McLellan’s sentence of twenty years before parole eligibility.14 The search histories of Oland’s computers revealed nothing incriminating.

  One month after the discovery of the crime, the media reported that the Oland family had engaged Gary Miller Q.C. of Fredericton, one of New Brunswick’s top defence lawyers. Miller appears to have been on the case much earlier, and there is also evidence that a private investigator was involved. The former head of the NB Criminal Defence Lawyers Association was described by a veteran Saint John barrister as the leading defence lawyer in the province and “very up to date on the finer points of criminal law.” Miller was critical of media reports speculating on how the victim was killed.15 In court, he displays a superb knowledge of the law and a folksy charm that can easily lapse into a sarcastic intensity—this can be valuable in cross-examination. Over the years, Miller had been involved in a number of interesting cases, such as the defence of Premier Richard Hatfield in 1985 on a charge of possession of marijuana. In 1987, he defended an American, Anthony Romeo, accused of shooting New Brunswick Highway patrolman Manny Aucoin. Romeo had relied on a defence of insanity but was convicted of first-degree murder. Miller later helped argue an unsuccessful appeal of the conviction before the Supreme Court of Canada. Perhaps his best-known trial was the murder prosecution of Mi’kmaw leader Noah Augustine of the Metepenagiag First Nation. In 1999, Augustine, after consuming several drinks, took a handgun belonging to a friend to Bruce Barnaby’s residence on Eel Ground Reserve. The purpose of the visit supposedly was to discuss Barnaby’s alleged role in the death of a relative. Augustine testified that Barnaby, during an argument, tried to attack him with a knife, so he shot him in the stomach and head. He then fled to Florida with a friend. His 1999 trial for murder took place over a two-week period in Miramichi City. The jury, which accepted the self-defence argument, deliberated for only two hours before acquitting Augustine, who four years later was elected chief of Metepenagiag First Nation. Augustine, once regarded as one of Canada’s up-and-coming aboriginal leaders, died in a highway accident in 2010.16

  Although he would not appear in a Saint John court until November 2013, the other major member of Dennis Oland’s defence team was Alan D. Gold, one of Canada’s top criminal defence lawyers. Based in Toronto, he has practised law with Edward Greenspan and argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. Gold is in high demand as a speaker for conferences intended for defence lawyers, prosecutors, and judges, and has served as president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Canada. A skilled practitioner, he is author of The Practitioner’s Criminal Code (also known as the Gold Code), a standard annotated Criminal Code that is updated annually. In addition to many articles, Gold has written Expert Evidence in Criminal Law: The Scientific Approach, which promises to help counsel deal with “bogus experts and junk science” in the courtroom. In the 2009 edition, he claims that an explosion of often dubious expert-witness opinion has invaded the courts in recent years.17

  Gold, whose command of the law is obvious, is not an uncontroversial figure. In 1992, journalist Michele Landsberg took issue with his remarks, at a Criminal Lawyers’ Association conference on sex-abuse trials, on how to counter the testimony of therapists in so-called “recovered memory” cases, where parents are allegedly falsely accused by their children. This discussion was in response to the controversial “recovered memory therapy” movement, where adults, often through psychotherapy, recall lost memories of being abused as children. Critics regarded these recovered memories as false memories. In some cases, this led to arrests and prosecutions, and the existence of this “syndrome” was rejected by the Canadian Psychiatric Association in the late 1990s. In 1998, Gold sent a letter to the federal Minister of Justice calling for an inquiry into recovered-memory convictions and the release of all prisoners involved.18 In 1999, he criticized a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada as a “radical feminist judgment” that “turns (human sexuality) into a business-like formalistic affair where everything must be absolutely clear.” The court had overturned a decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal that acquitted a man for sexually assaulting a seventeen-year-old girl. In this case, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the defence of “implied consent.” According to Gold, the decision supposedly puts “complainants on a pedestal” and absolves them of any responsibility when they are sexually assaulted.19

  In 2003, his thirtieth year in practice, Gold was engaged by the Toronto Police Services Board to defend the Toronto Police Service, not i
n a court of law but the court of public opinion. In an extensive piece of investigative journalism, the Toronto Star had published a series of articles arguing that the police engaged in racial profiling. Its evidence were statistics on drug arrests in the period 1996–2002 and traffic stops that appeared to indicate differential treatment of blacks and whites. The Toronto Police Association was so incensed by the allegations that it filed a $2.7-billion lawsuit. At this time, the department was under controversial chief Julian Fantino. Gold and a sociology professor were hired to analyse and rebut, at a meeting of the Police Services Board, the statistical methodology on which the Star had based its conclusions. (In 2009, Chief Bill Blair would finally admit that racial profiling was a problem in Toronto).20

  Gold has also been involved in organized-crime cases. In 1979, he represented Richard Sauvé, a Satan’s Choice member and one of several men convicted in the murder of a fellow biker at a Port Hope, Ontario, bar. Other defence counsel in this controversial case included Eddie Greenspan, Clayton Ruby, and Brian Greenspan. Sauvé, convicted of first-degree murder, was one of six men to be sent to penitentiary.21 In 2004, Gold defended two Ontario men in a Montreal organized-crime case. Former Hells Angels Walter Stadnick and Donald Stockford were accused of drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit murder, and membership in a criminal enterprise. At this time, Gold acknowledged “considerable negative press” associated with the case, largely because of the biker war in the past decade that had resulted in more than one-hundred-and-sixty murders, including of innocent bystanders, and twenty disappearances. Both of his clients were convicted and sent to penitentiary for twenty years. In 2007, Gold represented a Toronto motorcycle-shop owner arrested as part of a national sweep, known as Project Develop, against outlaw bikers. Although the raids netted drugs and guns, his client was on record as claiming that the Hells Angels were “motorcycle enthusiasts.” That year Gold was also involved in representing Aniello Peluso, considered by the RCMP to be a leader of Toronto organized crime, in the context of a botched police sting operation that collapsed before charges were laid.22 Before becoming involved with Oland case, Gold represented Dale Sweeney, former heard of the Manitoba Hells Angels, who was sentenced to eleven years in penitentiary for heading up a cocaine-trafficking ring.23

  One question in the Saint John area in 2011 and 2012 was why, given the lack of an arrest, the Oland family refused to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect. As revealed recently, this was actually attempted behind the scenes. On September 27, 2011, lawyer Bill Teed, acting on behalf of Dennis Oland’s sisters and mother, met with Chief Reid to discuss a reward to be provided by the family if the real killer were apprehended. The SJPF was tight-lipped on this issue, but according to an affidavit sworn by Dennis Oland on January 12, 2016, Reid refused on the grounds that “it would be unethical for the Saint John Police Department to accept it from my family” given that the police service believed he was the murderer.24

  It was not generally known to the public until late 2012, when search warrant information was unsealed, that Richard Oland’s businesses at 52 Canterbury Street continued to operate after his murder. Despite the earlier plan, there was no move to Brunswick Square. Robert McFadden took possession of the office after the police investigation had finished. A forensic cleaning company from Fredericton was hired to deal with the bloodstained floor (the victim’s blood had seeped through three or four layers of flooring and was visible on the ceiling of Printing Plus). Apparently, the restoration job took several days and cost $40,000. This must have been difficult for the hard-working John Ainsworth, who, in addition to suffering the emotional trauma of losing an acquaintance he admired, had his business disrupted and associated with a notorious murder. While the office was being restored and painted, Maureen Adamson and McFadden operated out of the empty suite next door. They were joined occasionally by Dennis Oland, now president of Richard Oland’s holding company and a director of the Far End Corporation and Kingshurst Estates, who used McFadden’s former office. This appeared to be a part-time job. According to court testimony, Dennis earned $50,000 a year from the two companies.

  On July 4, 2011, the building comprising 115-17 Germain Street, one street to the east of Canterbury and whose rear almost abutted the back of 52 Canterbury Street, was transferred from the British Bible Society to the Canadian Bible Society. The latter had operated a store at the location for decades, but in 2010 the outlet had closed. The transfer took place two days before Oland’s murder. This building, as would be revealed in court (but not to the public) in 2014 and in court proceedings not under a media ban in 2015, had a connection, at least in theory, with the Oland murder, which will be discussed later in this book. The property was listed for sale on July 29, 2011 (if not earlier), for $299,900, and the sale was closed on November 30, 2011, for a price of $275,000. The new owner was the numbered company 660673 N.B. Inc., whose business address was Cox and Palmer: Bill Teed’s firm. The president of the company was Lisa (Andrik) Oland and the secretary was Dennis Oland. Annual taxes on the property, which also included two apartments on the upper floors, were in the range of $6,000. At the time of his father’s murder, Dennis had a negative cash flow. His main bank account was overdrawn by several hundred dollars, his credit card was well over the limit, and a recent payment on a line of credit had been rejected because of insufficient funds. After the murder, he lost his job as a financial adviser. How a couple that was in financial straits in July managed to acquire this property less than six months later is not clear (no mortgage is on file), but it is reasonable to infer than they received help from their family. Dennis’s mother had access to the interest (and if necessary the capital) from a trust fund worth $36 million.

  Negative publicity associated with the murder investigation caused Dennis to lose his job with CIBC Wood Gundy. For a person in financial difficulty and who owed his former wife more than $50,000 a year and his father’s estate $20,000, this was not good news. Though he no doubt received a severance package as well as some compensation for the value of his investors’ “book,” rumoured to have been between $200,000 and 300,000. As later revealed in court, Dennis Oland and Robert McFadden benefitted on two levels from Richard Oland’s death. Both were executors of the victim’s estate, and based on its value, the executors’ fees were roughly $1 million. The two men agreed to a split, with McFadden being paid $765,000 and Dennis more than $100,000. Secondly, the two were remunerated as trustees of Oland’s estate.

  Neither the media nor the jury for his 2015 murder trial were aware of another facet of Dennis Oland’s life after the murder of his father. In the two years following July 6, 2011, Dennis, who was basically broke in early 2011, undertook more than a dozen trips outside of Canada, usually with his wife and other family members. The details were listed in a document later filed as part of a bail application. In October 2011, he and Lisa vacationed in Bermuda, followed by a trip to New York City in November with daughter Hannah. In March 2012, he flew to Houston, Texas, with Lisa to drive a truck (presumably a new purchase) back to New Brunswick. Then there was an automobile trip to Maine, New York, Connecticut, and Maryland between May 6 and 11. Later in May, Dennis travelled to Camden, Maine, to help bring a friend’s boat back to Rothesay. In October, he was in Boston with Lisa and the following month he took daughter Emily to Florida. Between December 2012, and early January 2013, there was a trip to Orlando (home of Disney World) with children Henry and Hannah, two of their friends, and stepson Andru Ferguson. Between February 23 and March 8, 2013, Dennis and his family were part of a larger Oland family vacation to the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. A month later, Dennis flew to Washington, DC, drove to Oxford, Connecticut, “to look at a boat,” then drove to New York City to meet family members, followed by the return trip to Rothesay. In April and May, he travelled twice to Tufts University Veterinarian Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a sick pet dog. He made a third trip to Worcester in late October 2013,
less than two weeks before his arrest.25

  On July 12, 2013, Dennis flew to Baltimore, Maryland, to take possession of a boat that was sailed back to Rothesay. According to the 2015 membership roster of the Rothesay Yacht Club, which is located within walking distance of the two Oland residences, Dennis and Lisa Oland were the owners of the forty-two-foot Grand Banks motor yacht Heritage. This class of trawler yacht, built by American Marine Limited, has been on the market for more than three decades and comfortably sleeps several people. It is a solid and stable vessel with a diesel engine. According to listings on Yachtworld.com, the price for a used Heritage 42 can range from under $100,000 USD for a vessel built in the 1970s to more than $400,000 for a ’90s model. Oland was able to enjoy this vessel in the summers of 2014 and 2015 after he was released on bail. At one point, he had the canvas coverings on the boat redone. Heritage was stored for the winter of 2016 at the Saint John Power Boat Club. Given that Oland knew he was the prime suspect in a murder investigation that was based in part on his uncertain income, debts, and lifestyle, these trips and the purchase of the yacht seem like poor choices.

  Journalist Julian Sher did manage to interview Robert McFadden, whom he described as Richard’s “accountant, sailing buddy and confidante,” in 2011.26 McFadden refused to elaborate on the scene of the crime the morning the body had been discovered and explained that the SJPF had advised witnesses to refrain from speaking to media as long as the investigation was underway. Writing three months after the murder, Sher described a “wall of silence” erected by the police and the Oland family. The lack of public updates on the case was creating “grumblings and frustration.” Councillor Bill Farren was quoted as expressing this sentiment on behalf of the community. It is not known if Farren, a former member of the police commission and a veteran Moosehead employee, had ever commented on other ongoing investigations. Paul Zed, the former Liberal MP who had once been married to an Irving, commented: “It’s a whodunit, but nobody really knows who the suspects are.”27