Defence wants murder case halted
The lawyer for a suspected murderer is looking to have the case against his client put to a stop.
Bob Buckingham has filed an application for a judicial stay of proceedings in the case of Trevor Pardy, declaring Pardy’s right to privacy and his solicitor- client privilege were violated by Her Majesty’s Penitentiary (HMP) officials.
Pardy faces a charge of firstdegree murder in the shooting death of his former girlfriend, Triffie Wadman, on Oct. 1, 2011.
He’s pleaded not guilty and has been in custody since then. His trial is set to begin Oct. 19 at Newfoundland Supreme Court in St. John’s.
Buckingham’s application for a stay — filed Sept. 23 — was the result of an incident at HMP on Sept. 16, when Buckingham went to meet with Pardy in preparation for the trial.
Buckingham had planned to prepare a re-enactment of the events the night Wadman was killed to assist the defence experts.
According to the application, obtained by The Telegram, Buckingham wrote HMP Supt. Owen Brophy on July 10, advising him that he needed to meet with Pardy in a location which is secure and unable to be observed by anyone other than the defence team. Buckingham indicated it was necessary to have a space which was not under camera surveillance.
Buckingham had also met with Stephen Ring, lawyer for the province’s attorney general, to negotiate the arrangement.
It was eventually approved and assurances made that the surveillance cameras in HMP’s programming room would be turned off.
The series of re-enactments — which also included a cine-matopher to film and a few others for various roles — was held between 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 16.
For added security, Buckingham said a white piece of paper was placed over the surveillance camera in the room.
However, the application states, when Pardy returned to his cell, a corrections officer told him that not only did he know the piece of paper was placed over the camera, he also said the camera system was able to penetrate the paper and the re-enactments could be seen.
The applications states that failure to turn off the cameras and the use of a surveillance system which was able to penetrate the screen placed over the camera constitutes a breach of Pardy’s solicitor-client privilege, a breach of his privacy and an interference (by the Department of Justice officials) in the preparation of his defence.
Buckingham said it, “denies him the right to a fair trial … and constitutes such an egregious infringement of his rights that continuing with the prosecution would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.”
A hearing to argue the stay application is set for Oct 10, nine days before the trial is scheduled to start.
Trial dates had been set three times before, but each time it was postponed due to issues with Pardy’s defence counsel.
Pardy has elected to be tried by judge and jury. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
A few other pre-trial application will also have to be dealt with, including an O’Connor application, in which the defence is seeking to obtain Wadman’s medical records. When the case was called in court Thursday, Justice Alphonsus Faour agreed Thursday to review the records to determine whether they are necessary for the defence’s case.