SEEKING NEW TRIAL
Convicted killer appeals
Claims about ineffective REGINA counsel and judicial errors lay at the heart of an appeal by convicted killer David Woods, found guilty in 2014 of murdering his wife Dorothy Woods.
Sitting next to his lawyer James Streeton at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Woods listened as lawyers wrangled over whether Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Martel Popescul made legal errors in instructing the jury such that it merits a new trial.
Also facing criticism was Woods’s trial lawyer Michael Nolin, who Streeton argued proved to be ineffective counsel.
But Crown prosecutor Dean Sinclair and Nolin’s counsel Alan Mcintyre argued evidence in the case and Woods’s own testimony at trial proved plenty to lead the jury to find as it did — that Woods was guilty of the November 2011 first-degree murder of Dorothy.
Woods is now serving a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Streeton pointed out several errors he claimed Popescul made in his handling of the case, both in his instructions to the jury and in his admissibility findings, such as in relation to threatening text messages said to have been sent by Woods before and after the woman’s disappearance. Streeton argued those texts played a significant role in the ultimate verdict by painting a negative picture of his client, and were more prejudicial to Woods than of “probative value” to the trial.
Streeton also argued Popescul’s instructions on post-offence conduct was insufficient, allowing the jury to jump to conclusions. Streeton said an “enormous” amount of the trial turned on post-offence conduct — such as disposal of Dorothy’s body and a text message said to have been sent from her cellphone by Woods — making the judge’s instructions in this area particularly crucial.
Streeton said even if there were evidence Woods disposed of the body, that does not automatically mean he killed Dorothy — a conclusion he said the jury might have reached because of issues within the judge’s charge.
Streeton further argued Popescul’s instructions didn’t adequately advise jurors that unlawful confinement — one of the paths to reaching a first-degree murder
verdict — must be a distinct act from the actual murder. Streeton said the only evidence of unlawful confinement here was the tying of Dorothy’s hands, which he suggested could have happened at the same time as the murder, rather than at some point prior.
Sinclair refuted each of Streeton’s arguments, saying the texts were allowed in because they were crucial to proving motive and identity, and that the judge’s instructions to the jury were more than sufficient on that and other matters.
In terms of the unlawful confinement argument, Sinclair said it’s clear Dorothy didn’t die from having her hands tied, automatically making that a separate act from the strangulation that killed her.
In terms of the claim regarding ineffective counsel, Streeton levelled several criticisms at Nolin, including his decision not to call a knot expert at trial. Nolin — testifying at the Court of Appeal — said he didn’t call the expert because his findings were inconclusive and therefore “useless to us and would smack of desperation.”
Sinclair argued jurors are told to use common sense, and don’t need to be “spoon-fed” to arrive at a fair verdict. He and Mcintyre suggested it was not the judge’s instructions nor Nolin’s representation that led to the verdict, but Woods himself and the overwhelming evidence against him.
Mcintyre said Woods was “barbecued” during cross-examination by trial Crown Michael Segu, destroying his earlier testimony and, in conjunction with plenty of circumstantial evidence, leading the jury to the “inescapable conclusion that Mr. Woods murdered his wife.”
Court of Appeal Chief Justice Robert Richards and Justices Peter Whitmore and Lian Schwann reserved decision. The hearing marked the first time live-streaming broadcast proceedings.