SEE FOR YOURSELF: Police obtain confession
One of the critical pieces of evidence for the defence in the trial of Brian Matthews was a video of his police interrogation, which was recorded on Nov. 2, 2015, the day of his arrest.
The trial concluded Thursday when Judge Joseph Nadel sentenced Matthews to eight years in jail for the manslaughter death of his 14-month-old grandson Kody Smart — and with the end of the trial,
The Standard is publishing an excerpt from the video.
The Standard sought to publish video when it was first introduced. Exhibits are part of the public record. However, Nadel ruled the publication would be unfair to Matthews, especially if he was acquitted.
Nadel gave The Standard a copy of the video at the time of the request, but ordered that it not be published until the end of the trial.
Mindful that open trials are a fundamental pillar of the justice system, Nadel provided the newspaper with a transcript of the interrogation for publication.
Nadel used an analogy to explain his decision: “I will allow the public to read the recipe, but I am not ready to let it taste the meal yet.”
When defence lawyer Peter Barr objected, Nadel said that as a judge it wasn’t his responsibility “to comfort the accused.”
Barr used the video to allow Matthews the opportunity to present his story to the court in his own words — while avoiding what would have been a withering crossexamination by Crown attorney Cheryl Gzik.
The interrogation lasted four hours. The transcript was 70 pages long. Niagara Regional Police Det. Const. Lisa Isherwood put the suggestion to Matthews that he was guilty on at least 23 different occasions.
Over and over again, Isherwood told Matthews the facts didn’t support his story. Over and over again, Matthews maintained a large family dog was responsible for Kody’s injuries.
Isherwood used a variety of different tactics to try and elicit a confession. Nadel described them in his verdict.
“During the course of this interrogation, Isherwood cajoled, urged or suggested to Matthews that he was guilty and ought to admit to having struck Kody,” Nadel said.
“She did so using a variety of techniques and ploys including challenging Matthews’ denials by using the authority of medical reports. Isherwood was incredibly persistent … On every occasion, Matthews consistently denied having struck, hit or harmed Kody.”
The interview began at 8:20 a.m. and ended when an exhausted Matthews returned to his cell at 12:20 p.m.
In the end, Nadel rejected Matthews’ assertion that the dog did it. Instead, he leaned on medical evidence by veteran forensic pathologist Dr. John Fernandes, who performed the autopsy and detailed the injuries to Kody’s head and neck. Fernandes concluded Kody had been subjected to an “acceleration and deceleration motion” that proved lethal. In other words, he was shaken.
Matthews is appealing the verdict. He has a bail hearing in Toronto Wednesday where his lawyers will ask a judge to release him during the appeal process.
The size of the video made it impossible to upload in its entirety. The following is the first 20 minutes.
With apologies to Judge Nadel, it is enough to get the “flavour” of a police interrogation.