Tippett letters now missing, trial hears
The letters allegedly written by Stanley Tippett that led to his obstruction of justice charge have gone missing.
That information came out Monday during Tippett’s trial in Cobourg Superior Court of Justice.
He has pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice, for a second time.
The case was originally before a jury in September 2013. Jurors couldn’t reach a verdict so a mistrial was declared.
Since then, the original handwritten letters allegedly penned by Tippett to former fellow inmate Morgan Gentle have been lost.
Crown attorney Mark Moorecroft is now relying on photocopies of the alleged documents.
Court services accidentally lost the letters, he said, and they’re still looking for them.
Tippett, 40, is accused of writing letters to Gentle while the two were incarcerated at Central East Correctional Centre in 2011.
Tippett was at the Lindsay jail after his conviction for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an intoxicated 12-year-old girl in August 2008. He picked her up on a southend street and took her to an area behind a Courtice high school.
Planning to appeal his conviction, Tippett reached out to Gentle, who was there following an arrest for sexual assault. Tippett asked Gentle to go along with a fabricated story in order to clear his name.
Tippett was declared a dangerous offender in 2011 and will be in jail indefinitely.
On Monday, Gentle, the Crown’s key witness, testified before Justice Drew Gunsolus in Tippett’s new trial by judge.
During their time in the Lindsay jail, Tippett grew to trust Gentle and slipped him several letters seeking his help to carry out a scheme created to win his appeal.
Gentle, 32, testified that he was instructed to study and rehearse the plan Tippett detailed in the letters. In return, Gentle would get money from an upcoming lawsuit settlement of Tippett’s.
The plot involved Gentle going to a party in Courtice, where two men and a girl showed up, court heard. Then when news of the assault was released the next day and
Tippett was arrested, Gentle was to say he knew they had the wrong guy because he’d witnessed who was actually there – and it Tippett wasn’t.
But Gentle didn’t draft a letter to Tippett’s lawyer as Tippett requested, instead he contacted city police.
“I felt like it was important information for police to have,” Gentle said.
He handed over all the letters Tippett had allegedly written and continued to befriend the father of six to get more information.
Defence lawyer Riva Lydia attacked Gentle’s credibility for hours during cross-examination, pointing out his two-page criminal record.
Facing his own sexual assault charges at the time the alleged letters were passed, Lydia suggested Gentle was looking for a deal.
Lydia questioned how much Gentle learned about Tippett’s case through through their daily conservations while incarcerated and what he knew about Tippett’s case from the media. “This really happened. These letters really did come from Stanley Tippett,” Gentle said.
The trial is expected to continue Tuesday and is scheduled for two weeks.