Douglas Garland Trial - Guilty- 1st degree- 3 counts / 75 years no parole.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Well according to what they have been talking about today, he kept the shoe box for the shoes he wore to the Liknes house. Obviously he didn't think of everything to cover his tracks. (If he did it).

Maybe that was part of his master plan. If the shoes don't fit, you must acquit!

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Maybe that was part of his master plan. If the shoes don't fit, you must acquit!

CPS went and bought a new pair of the same shoes, found that the pattern matches the footprints at the Liknes home. They then used video from Princess Auto that shows someone who looks like Garland wearing shoes that appear to match the ones CPS bought.

Not the best planning I guess.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Innocent?

No. A recluse living on a rural property owned by aging parents, multiple prior crimes, social misfit, meticulous but also sloppy, sociopathic flat-effect body language, obviously guilty.

[underGRADFlame]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

No. A recluse living on a rural property owned by aging parents, multiple prior crimes, social misfit, meticulous but also sloppy, sociopathic flat-effect body language, obviously guilty.

You are the first person i have ever heard describe Avery as meticulous. Either way I don't want to derail this thread with "Making a Murderer" talk.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

You are the first person i have ever heard describe Avery as meticulous. Either way I don't want to derail this thread with "Making a Murderer" talk.

Pretty sure he was referring to Garland.

[Northendzone]

I have to admit that I am getting a little nervous that there seems to be lots of circumstantial evidence, but not smoking gun yet.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I have to admit that I am getting a little nervous that there seems to be lots of circumstantial evidence, but not smoking gun yet.

The DNA evidence hasn't been discussed yet.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

The DNA evidence hasn't been discussed yet.

One would assume the strategy is to lay the foundation, which is circumstantial but very damning, and conclude with the hardest evidence.
Which makes perfect sense from my uninformed viewpoint.

[MBates]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

One would assume the strategy is to lay the foundation, which is circumstantial but very damning, and conclude with the hardest evidence.
Which makes perfect sense from my uninformed viewpoint.

Your strategy makes sense but in many cases witness logistics dictate how the evidence comes out...especially with well respected experts. They often have very little flexibility in their schedule and you have to plan your case around when they can make it to court.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by MBates

Your strategy makes sense but in many cases witness logistics dictate how the evidence comes out...especially with well respected experts. They often have very little flexibility in their schedule and you have to plan your case around when they can make it to court.

Is that actually true? Experts get to dictate when they're available for a trial like this? Jury members have to full stop their lives, but experts get to shoehorn it into their schedule, and crown and defense have to take what they can get?

[Jason14h]

Experts get paid don't they to appear? Or are they summoned?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Experts get paid don't they to appear? Or are they summoned?

I would expect anyone that is working on the public's dime gets paid while going to court (cops, medical examiner, etc.) I'm not sure if private witnesses get paid. In this cases there was an employee from Princess Auto and a meat processing store that were on the stand. It sounds like Doug's Therapist was also summoned to be a witness but he decided not to testify.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I would expect anyone that is working on the public's dime gets paid while going to court (cops, medical examiner, etc.) I'm not sure if private witnesses get paid. In this cases there was an employee from Princess Auto and a meat processing store that were on the stand. It sounds like Doug's Therapist was also summoned to be a witness but he decided not to testify.

What exactly are the rules about what therapists are obligated to report on what they might learn from a client? I can't believe if Garland had such an enormous grudge/vendetta against Alvin Liknes all these years, that he never made concerning statements to his therapist?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

What exactly are the rules about what therapists are obligated to report on what they might learn from a client? I can't believe if Garland had such an enormous grudge/vendetta against Alvin Liknes all these years, that he never made concerning statements to his therapist?

Obviously the patient has rights to confidentiality and I'm not sure when/how testimony in a trial trumps those confidentiality rights. His Therapist decided not to take the stand though and instead he provided a written statement indicating that Douglas did attend his regular therapy session on the morning that the three victims went missing. His regular session is scheduled for 8am but Douglas arrived half an hour late that morning.

[FLAME ENVY]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I have to admit that I am getting a little nervous that there seems to be lots of circumstantial evidence, but not smoking gun yet.

At the end of the day, the evidence must prove Garland is 'guilty beyond a reasonable doubt'. I would say a lot of the evidence thus far points in that direction.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Obviously the patient has rights to confidentiality and I'm not sure when/how testimony in a trial trumps those confidentiality rights. His Therapist decided not to take the stand though and instead he provided a written statement indicating that Douglas did attend his regular therapy session on the morning that the three victims went missing. His regular session is scheduled for 8am but Douglas arrived half an hour late that morning.

I assume exceptions to confidentiality vary from from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but here is an example of when confidentiality 'should/must' be broken.


-Where there is a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or elder adult physical abuse;

-Where there is a reasonable suspicion that you may present a danger of violence to others;

- Where there is a reasonable suspicion that you are likely to harm yourself unless protective measures are taken.

That have undertaken these action in the past do not qualify, but only to save harm from ongoing or planned action.
I think?
So I could tell my therapist I killed someone, and that could remain confidential. I tell my therapist I am planning to kill someone tomorrow, and they must report it?
Further, a therapist could be subpoenaed (wow - had to Google spelling lol) to testify, and could comply or evoke privilege, and not testify?

[MBates]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Is that actually true? Experts get to dictate when they're available for a trial like this? Jury members have to full stop their lives, but experts get to shoehorn it into their schedule, and crown and defense have to take what they can get?

By definition highly qualified experts are in limited supply. It is not as though they get to schedule their morning espresso over court obligations and everyone just has to wait. The last expert I booked on a trial was a university professor, head of a provincial mental health review board, and giving expert opinion in cases in North America and Europe. So, yes, I booked my trial dates according to his availability. In no way is it a slight against jury members time it is just reality.

As our system is so overbooked and mired with delays, half of my 2018 is already booked solid. So if I were to hire a very good expert witness today, his or her schedule would be at least as booked already and probably much worse. So if I am running a month long trial, the expert may well only be able to attend Calgary to testify on 3 or 4 days the whole month. All other witnesses typically then get planned around that.

But to be clear, we accommodate all witnesses and jury members as much as we can especially in long trials which are unpredictable at best in terms of how long it takes each witness to testify. We take days off, skip lunch, run until late in the evening (8 pm is the longest I have personally gone when 4:30 is normal end of the day) and even split testimony in order to make sure witnesses and jurors don't miss important appointments etc.

[Otto-matic]

Nancy Hixt ‏@NancyHixt 6m6 minutes ago
More
Justice Gates tells jury that juror #8's son has suddenly passed away--he has now been excused from the trial. 13 jurors remain #Garland

Justice Gates offers condolences to the remaining 13 jurors--says he knows must be a blow to them as they have spent several wks together

Cst. Gerald Bouchard is the first witness to testify today--worked for CPS homicide unit in 2014 #Garland

Bouchard was assigned to collect and view CCTV video in relation to #Garland investigation

Bouchard began helping with Operation Amber July 2/14--the focus was to gather video from around Liknes home in SW #yyc #Garland

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Experts get paid don't they to appear? Or are they summoned?

My wife works in the mental health field and she simply gets summoned as part of her normal course of employment when she is required to be present for a court proceeding.

[greyshep]

So far today has been testimony from a police officer assigned to analyze cctv footage. Does a good job of showing timeline.

Essentially, Garland arrived at Liknes home around 3:20am, took him approx. 1.5hrs to do his break in and assault/capture, came out to retrieve his truck around 5:00am, took him 20-30mins to load up the bodies, hit the road back to his parents acreage at 5:20am, last footage of the truck seen heading north of the city on deerfoot/hwy 2 at 5:45am. (Large white tarp/package in back of truck)

Footage then captures his truck (back of truck now empty) heading back into the city around 7:20am where he drives to Liknes home again (clean up the scene? or relive moment?) and then heads to a dr. appt which he arrives at a bit late.

Kudos to the police on this one. They have done a lot of groundwork to piece this together.