Who killed James Carlson?
Crown, defence make closing arguments
There’s no disputing that James Carlson’s home in Watrous, Sask. was a crime scene riddled with blood, bullets and the remnants of a cleanup.
The blood came from Carlson and the bullets were fired by Wolff, who then tried to clean up the mess, Crown prosecutor Bill Burge argued Thursday during his closing arguments at the second-degree murder trial of Taylor James Wolff.
Burge relied heavily on testimony from Lindsay Reiber, a friend of Wolff ’s, who said Wolff told her he shot Carlson after Carlson came at him with a sword during a confrontation.
The circumstantial evidence corroborates Reiber’s direct evidence and proves the Crown’s theory that Wolff intended to kill Carlson when he went to his house with a gun on May 14, 2008, Burge said.
Defence lawyer Brad Mitchell argued there is sufficient evidence to infer that someone else killed Carlson.
Burge said Wolff ’s DNA was on the handle of a cleaning bottle found in Carlson’s home. Mitchell pointed out the absence of DNA on the bottle’s trigger, and the unknown source of DNA on a mop handle, suggesting someone else was cleaning up.
Wolff ’s DNA was also found on two cigarette butts: one on a kitchen table and another on the floor, hidden by objects.
The placement of the butts suggest they were recently put there, Burge argued.
Only three of 54 crime scene exhibits matched Wolff’s DNA, Mitchell countered. No fingerprints found in either Carlson’s home or on his car, which was abandoned in a field near Allan, Sask., can be tied to Wolff, he added.
However, there were prints from unknown people in the house, Mitchell said.
Burge argued certain elements of the crime scene matched the information Reiber gave police in 2013 — when she was a paid police agent — and in her trial testimony.
Reiber recalled Wolff saying that Carlson came at him with a sword during their confrontation. Police seized a sword from Carlson’s home.
She also said Wolff told her he put Carlson’s body in a well near his parent’s property.
Two wells in that area were searched with no results, Mitchell pointed out.
To this day, Carlson’s body has not been found.
Mitchell argued many of the Crown’s witnesses are unreliable, calling Reiber a “drug addict and liar motivated by financial gain.”
Justice Gerald Allbright reserved his decision on the case until Aug. 10.