We wish to thank Mr. Allan Ferguson for his work on this investigation and the brief he produced. As well as for the long hours he obviously has spent on this case, even though we and Peter Firestone do not agree with many of his comments or conclusions. Starting from Page 4 of his Investigation Brief, Mr. Ferguson has taken the position of supporting the police over the Defense. This report is not unbiased or fair.

It is noted that throughout the entire brief, Mr. Ferguson used over and over again the questionable unwarned statement of David Muir, which was never signed. This statement was/is not acceptable in a court of law, nor should it be acceptable here. An unsigned, unwarned statement can be produced by anyone, anywhere, at anytime. If anyone doubts the creativeness of the police, you just have to refer to the sworn affidavit of Detective Jackson to obtain the wiretap. The B. C. Appeal Court referred to this affidavit as having, "both overstatements and omissions", page 11 paragraph 23 of the Reasons for Judgement included in our original submissions . If the police wanted any credibility in their investigation, the very least they could have done is taped all the interviews with everyone who was a juvenile, as recommended by the Donald Marshal inquiry.

Some new evidence Mr. Ferguson was able to bring to light was, page 42, paragraph 3 of the Draft Version of his brief, "The videotape made by Cst. Roberts on the morning of October 6, 1990, was not disclosed to the Defense." .

We note Mr. Ferguson made no objection to Ms. Cousins contradictory stories of when the crowbars were purchased from Capital Iron. Therefore he apparently confirms her unreliability.

As pointed out by Mr. Ferguson, three crowbars were tested for a paint match and none matched. The forensic lab Identification Services Section report dated 90-10-17, file # 90-27658 states "the 3.5 cms. wound is not now consistent with the width of an instrument, but is an indication of a "bar" type instrument.". Mr. Ferguson never mentioned the width of the crow bars not matching the wounds, but in fact the paint did not match and the size did not match. This also throws extreme doubt on Amanda Cousins testimony, as crow bars were not used as she states. Please note the B. C. Court of Appeal did not say Amanda Cousins was a credible witness, they simply stated that the jury must have believed her.  The question is now, with this new evidence that was not disclosed to the Defense, would the jury still believe her?

On page 17, paragraph 3, "At no time in any of the telephone conversations did Derik Lord agree to change the alibi. In fact, he reiterated the fact that he had been downtown with David Muir."

Mr. Ferguson has taken no issue with the fact that there was overstatement and omission in the affidavit filed in support of the motion for the authorisation for the wiretap.

Mr. Ferguson took no issue with the fact that the judge interfered with the questioning of witnesses. The prejudicial nature of this is covered further in another section of our submission

Mr. Ferguson took no issue with the fact that the judge acted as a prosecutor and questioned witnesses.

Mr. Ferguson took issue with our inclusion of information from SAMMON, but he did not take issue with the forensic lab report dated Feb 21, 1991, in which "scalp hairs removed from Exhibits 60 A and 105 are not consistent with the known scalp hair standards Exhibits 56 A and 74 B." This evidence adds further doubt to Derik's involvement.

Mr. Ferguson took no issue with the similarities between this case and that of Donald Marshall. These similarities in terms of the faults in the case can be summarised as follows:

• Detective Jackson's notes indicate that he wanted photographs of Derik on October 25, 1990. He never received Amanda Cousins statement implicating Derik until November 28/29, 1990, one day after arresting Derik for murder. There was no evidence implicating Derik until after his arrest.

• Jackson admitted in court ( transcripts, page 48 ) that he told Derik that only one person committed the murders, yet there are two young men serving time for the murders.

• Charles Smith's original statement said he saw Sharon Huenemann at about 8:00 p.m. in the passenger side of the car. Jackson went back a year later and persuaded Mr. Smith that it was likely 6:00 p.m.. Mr. Smith changed his story.

• Amanda Cousins made her statement starting November 28, 1990 at 22:30 hours and ended November 29, 1990 at 02:30 hours with her signing it November 29, 1990 at 03:15 hours. Detective Jackson admitted in court that he threatened to charge Amanda as an accessory to murder if she did not implicate Derik and David in the murders.

• Neither Amanda Cousins's or David Muir's statements were recorded on audio or video tape. We do not know what intimidation or unacceptable manner took place at these interviews. I suggest if the Crown were made aware of the conditions the Crown could not have used these statements. As it was, the police broke David Muir's Charter of Rights in taking his statement, if he did make one. I suggest this unsigned confession was deliberately fabricated by the police so they would have something to show Amanda and threaten her with. I suggest it was deliberate that there is no audio or video tape of these interviews.

• All the information that Amanda Cousins gave in her statement was given to her by the police. On November 6, 1990, when Tregear and Jackson came to our home, they told my wife and I every single detail of the crime scene. False information was also included in her statement. e.g. David Muir hit Mrs. Leatherbarrow over the head with a crowbar. The paint found in Mrs. Leather barrow's skull was paint that is used on wood, not metal. David Muir said he put a one inch hole in granny's head. This statement came from someone older than these kids. All these kids had grown up in centimetres and use centimetres among their peers. Size ten foot prints found at the scene were completely ignored. Derik's foot size was eight and a half and David's was nine.

• The Crown did not provide full and complete disclosure. The Defense counsel did not make a major issue of that at trial, working on the assumption that enough disclosure for a proper defense had been made. There were numerous requests made for full, complete, timely disclosure during the year and a half leading up to the trial. Now we see that full disclosure was not made.

• Mr. Martin ( Defense counsel at appeal ), having discovered through the private detective that evidence was hidden from the Defense, requested the information. Crown continued non disclosure.

• Despite knowing that Darren Huenemann would not be sworn in, the judge allowed Huenemann to enter the stand and refuse. This simple act now associated Darren Huenemann with Derik Lord and David Muir. Since Darren Huenemann had already been convicted in these murders, the jury now associated a convicted murderer with the accused. The prosecution did not provide a "will say" statement or indicate what was expected to be obtained from the testimony of this witness. We believe that the prosecution's only purpose was to associate a convicted person with the defendants. A similar tactic would have been to bring in Clifford Olsen and have him wave at the boys. The judge denied an immediate application for a mistrial.

• The entire transcript is full of sarcastic and degrading remarks to the Defense by the judge. The judge's comments and questioning of the witnesses put forth an atmosphere of a whimsical day at the park, not a serious trial involving the freedom of two young men for life and the murder of two loved women.

• We have never been told why, but the Attorney General of B. C. proceeded with direct indictment, thus depriving the Defense to a preliminary hearing and the ability to cross-examine witnesses. Every time Amanda Cousins tells her story, it changes.

Mr. Ferguson took no issue with Amanda Cousins varying stories on the purchase of the crowbars, two of which occurred after September 21, 1990, the first time the murders were to have taken place.

• The first time was during the Preliminary hearing of Darren Huenemann, when she says that ( on page 17 of transcript  they bought the crowbars at Capital Iron on the Sunday or Monday before the 5^th of October. That would have been the 31^st of September or the 1^st of October, 1990.

• The second time was during the trial of Derik Lord and David Muir, (transcript page 559 submitted with our original application) when the dates for purchasing these crowbars was set on the weekend of the 22^nd and 23^rd of September.

We found so many items to argue with that it seemed the only logical way was to take the reader through it on a page by page basis. Some of the problems we found were glaringly obvious, some a little more obscure, but all of them lead us to believe that Mr. Ferguson was attempting to cover up the gross miscarriage of justice which occurred in this case.

1. On page 45 and 46, Mr. Ferguson went way over the bounds of a responsible investigator. After a factual lead up to where Capital Iron got its crowbars and the fact that the blunt force injuries received by the victims were caused by a round instrument he attempted to make the assertion that Amanda Cousins and David Muir confirmed that crowbars were used. He completely ignores the fact the size of the wounds did not match a 17 inch crowbar and the forensic lab found the paint did not match. He states on page 46,

This statement is fundamentally dishonest in the context that elephants are similar to cars in that they both weigh two tons, have four parts that touch the ground to propel them forward, and some are painted grey. The paints were similar in that they coated another product. They were not identical, nor were the other two crowbars tested by the forensic lab. Amanda Cousins admitted in Court she lied to police and David Muir never made any statement to police.

1. On page 9, and 10, Mr. Ferguson refers to two phone calls made by Amanda Cousins to Darren Huenemann. These calls were made during the wiretap authorisation period. In fact, other calls on November 23, one of the dates, are provided in disclosure materials.  If these phone calls occurred, why were the wiretap recordings not used?  They would have been more effective than the testimony of the girl.  Were these calls in the log?  If so, then one of them must have been quite short in order not to interfere with other logged calls on November 23, 1990.

1. On page 11 of the brief, paragraph 2 under Mr. Rusk's cross examination of Amanda Cousins, "she thought it was another Huenemann's fantasies, similar to his story about becoming the Emperor of Borneo." In other words, Amanda did not believe the fact that Darren Huenemann was going to kill his family, she believed and knew that he was fantasising and that he had fantasised in the past and continued to fantasise now.

1. On page 12, Mr. Ferguson agrees that Julie McClung gave the strongest identification evidence against the Applicant. She also admitted that she had been on the ferry on September 21, but she was sure that she had not seen Derik on that ferry but had seen him on October 5.  It is wrong to place someone in a prison for life on the testimony of a woman like Julie McClung.  A woman who does not remember conclusively, but who says she does but could possibly have made a mistake between October the 5^th and September 21^st.  She waited two months before she made that statement.

1. On page 12 Mr. Ferguson states Det. Stabler testified about the photographic line up process that he used with various witnesses and that at no time had he ever told Amanda Cousins about the physical attributes of the crime scene. We agree with Mr. Ferguson that Det. Stabler did not tell Amanda Cousins about the crime scene, but Det. Stabler was not the only detective involved with the case, and Amanda Cousins' relative, Det. Jackson, was involved with the case. And there were other officers who told Amanda Cousins substantial amounts about the case which is verified in her testimony, which I have already enclosed, in which she states that she was told various things.

1. On page 12, Mr. Ferguson's blatant support of the police is furthered by saying that Parmjit Bhinder testifies that he had tentatively identified David Muir. In fact, his tentative identification was "rings a bell". Mr. Ferguson neglected to put this comment in his brief, indicating that positive identification was then made. Mr. Ferguson completely ignored the fact that the taxi dispatcher said a call came at 6:45 from the Tsawwassen Mall, which is 1.7 km from the scene where the murders took place. Mr. Ferguson failed to compile the evidence of other peoples' testimony in that with the May Boys, the taxi dispatcher and the taxi driver and with Mr. Smith's testimony, it is not possible that these murders took place between the times that the police through Amanda Cousins say they did.

1. On page 13, Mr. Ferguson uses the testimony of Mr. Steve Lomax of BC Ferries to testify that the actual departure time of the ferry on October 5, 1990 was 7:30 p.m. and it arrived at Swartz Bay at 9:01 p.m. Anyone who rides these ferries on a regular basis can tell you that when the ferry arrives it is another 5 to 10 minutes before walk on passengers are allowed off. By the time walk on passengers reach their vehicles, or someone picking them up, those vehicles are at the end of a very long ferry line of traffic into Victoria. There is no possible way that these boys could have been home at 9:30, yet Mr. Ferguson refers to time and again to testimony that the boys were home at 9:30. On September 21, 1990, when the boys caught the 7:00 p.m. ferry, which left very close to the scheduled 7:00 p.m., testimony confirms that the boys arrived at 9:30 p.m. at the Lord's home. No one has questioned this time which makes the supposition that if the ferry left at 7:30 p.m. on October 5, 1990, the boys would not have arrived at the Lord's home until 10:00 p.m.

1. On page 13, again, Mr. Ferguson refers to Greg May's testimony in which he says he saw two youths around the LEATHERBARROW home at 6:00 p.m. on October the 5^th. Mr. Ferguson went to interview other witnesses, such as Charles Smith, on his recollection of events that happened 6 years ago, but he never went to interview Greg May or to interview Greg May over the phone to find out if Greg May had actually seen the LEATHERBARROW car pull into the driveway. This is significant in that the May boys say they were outside until 6:30 in the evening. If they did not see Mrs. LEATHERBARROW's car pull in, or the car was not in the driveway at the time, that means that Mrs. LEATHERBARROW was not home until after 6:30 at least. Mr. Ferguson again shows his bias in the fact that he refers to the testimony that Greg May gave in trial saying that he was outside at 6:00 p.m., yet on cross examination, Greg May changed his story to 6:30 and Mr. Ferguson preferred to put that at the very end rather than to highlight it at the beginning of the paragraph. The fact is, according to the court records, it was not 6:00, it was 6:30 p.m.

1. On Pages 14 and 15, Mr. Ferguson refers to the judge's comments to the jury about sort of looks like and rings a bell, and the judge also tried to influence the jury by suggesting that it only took 10 seconds to pick out Mr. Muir, and a further 10 seconds to pick out Mr. Lord from the pictures. In actual fact, he never picked these individuals out, he said, "Sort of looks like one. He had a brush cut as well" and " #2 Sort of looks like one, but his hair was longer." In actual fact, Daniel May picked out haircuts, he did not pick out the individuals, and if one has a look at the line up photographs, there are no other people to match those descriptions.

1. On page 15, of Mr. Ferguson's case for the Defense, he refers to Derik's testimony in which he admits to going over to Tsawwassen, but Mr. Ferguson and the police have never asked the taxi company to find in their records for a call made by a David from Deifenbaker park telephone for a pick up from Tsawwassen to the ferry terminal on September 21^st, which would have confirmed Derik's story. We admit the negligence of the Defense for not doing this either.

1. On page 16, Mr. Ferguson refers to Derik having a curfew. This is an imposed curfew by his parents. All our children had curfews and they changed as they got older. This is not a court imposed curfew.

1. On page 16, of the brief, Mr. Ferguson refers to the telephone wiretaps in which David Muir phoned Derik on afternoon of the 23^rd of November and raised the point of changing the alibi. Mr. Ferguson says that Derik says he never agreed to changing the alibi. The fact is the wiretap confirms this, it is not just Derik Lord stating this. Mr. Ferguson in further statements throughout the brief, states that the boys were aware of wiretaps and had suspicions that wiretaps were on there, yet he does not question the phone calls that were taped and the ideas that were supposedly put across in them, such as David Muir wanting to change his story about being over there. Why would he do that if they thought there were wiretaps on the line?

1. On page 17, Mr. Ferguson does confirm the fact that telephone conversations between Derik Lord and others did not change Derik's story.

1. On page 18, Mr. Ferguson displays quite graphically that Derik was completely co-operative with the police before his arrest. Further on page 18, Mr. Ferguson confirms the good character of Derik Lord. We personally can testify to the horrors of what happens to people who have allegations made about them by the police, or in our case have a conviction of murder. We have lost many friends, who we thought were friends, and even relatives have abandoned us. The true character of an individual comes out in adversity and Derik Lord has proven that he has good character, that he will stand by people he calls friends.

1. Again, questioning Mr. Ferguson's reliability and unbiased reporting in this brief, he refers on page 18 to the judge's comments about why Derik continued to listen to David Muir in the wiretap on David Muir changing his story. Why did he not use the trial transcripts instead of the judge's view of the issue when the judge shows constantly through the entire trial that he had a bias against the boys? Mr. Ferguson shows his own bias by using judge's comments rather than trial transcripts. The judge's comments can at times be classed as opinion.

1. Note that on page 19, Mr. Ferguson uses approximately a page to describe Elouise Lord's testimony in court which spanned a reasonable amount of time, and note that he also spent nearly a page on the Crown's rebuttal witness, Jackie McIntyre, even though she only spent about 5 minutes on the stand. This is another indication of Mr. Ferguson's bias in this case. Summarising the testimony of Elouise Lord, Mr. Ferguson leaves a faulty impression to the reader. He says:

His interpretation of trial transcripts is a bit awry. Mrs Lord said, in describing Derik's clothing that he, meaning Derik, was wearing a new T-shirt. She had no idea whether David's shirt was new or not. She was describing Derik Lord's clothing, not David Muir's. Several sentences are between the two statements in the actual transcript.  It is important to note that the clothes Derik was described as wearing were light in colour and were not soiled upon his return to our home. There would have been some staining had he actually been involved in such a crime.

1. On page 20, Mr. Ferguson goes into Jackie McIntyre's testimony in which he specifically states that Mrs. McIntyre told the court that Elouise had said that she was with the boys all night. We're questioning Mrs. McIntyre's memory. The prosecution and, it appears, Mr. Ferguson, have tried to use this point to prove that Elouise Lord was lying. But evening, according to Webster's dictionary, is "interval between sunset and bedtime". Therefore night starts when you go to bed until morning. That's when Derik was home. Besides, Elouise denies ever saying such a thing to Mrs. McIntyre.

1. On page 23, The co-conspirator's Exception to the hearsay rule:

Mr. Ferguson confirms the findings of the BC Court of Appeal. You will note that the Court's decision was that under normal circumstances, a new trial would be warranted because of the failure to instruct the jury on the limited nature of the evidence available to them on the issue of the membership in a conspiracy. And yet, the Court did not grant this retrial because they felt that the jury must have believed Amanda Cousins. There is no evidence that the jury believed Amanda Cousins. There is no evidence of how the jury reached its decision. It could very well have been because of the misdirection of the jury. Given the BC Court of Appeal's decision that, in most cases, failure to instruct the jury on the membership in a conspiracy would be sufficient to warrant a new trial, coupled with the fact that evidence was withheld from the Defense and thus full disclosure was not made, if the Appeal Court had the information that Mr. Ferguson has today, the Appeal Court would have found differently in their decision.

1. On page 27 of the brief, Mr. Ferguson contacted the National Parole Board and the Correctional Service of Canada for their assessments on Derik Lord. He found out that Derik has continued to maintain his innocence and refuses to participate in rehabilitation programs as a result. This seems to be consistent with the fact that if there is nothing wrong with an individual, why should he participate in a program which says that there is something wrong with him.

1. On page 33 where Mr. Ferguson explains his investigative trip to British Columbia, he comments that Sgt. Davies was very familiar with the police file on Darren Huenemann, Derik Lord and David Muir. Sgt. Davies was very co-operative, and of great assistance to the investigation. And he goes on to state that he spoke to Det. Bill Jackson who gave his opinion that the case against the Appellant was overwhelming in evidential strength. Why did Mr. Ferguson put in a personal opinion from a police officer in this report, and why did he go to the extra length of explaining how co-operative Sgt. Davies was? This personal view of the helpfulness of the police has nothing to do with the facts of this case and it has no place. If it is to remain then he must also indicate he had the complete co-operation of everyone from the Applicant's side, Mr. Peter Firestone, Ms. Susan Beach, Ms. Dawn Lord, Mrs. Elouise Lord and myself. In fact Mrs. Lord lost her job because according to her employer she testified in her son's case. She cashed in her RRSP's. Mr. Lord cashed in his pension plans and we sold our home to continue to have money to free our wrongfully convicted son. How much did this police officer's opinion cost him? However, when we are successful in showing our son is innocent in a fair trial, it may cost him his job. I guess he wants the conviction to stand. Mr. Ferguson specialises in half truths or only half the story which he again attempted to perpetrate here.

1. On page 33, to the top of page 34,

See correspondence from Crown to Defense Counsel re: additional disclosure found at Tab 6 of Mr. Ferguson's brief. When reading this, note the rude comment about the kitchen sink.

This item is further enlarged upon in the section which deals with the issues of non disclosure. The inclusion of officers' notes has become standard disclosure procedure in Canada. This has occurred much more frequently since Stinchcombe, but, referring to the case law cited following these submissions, was common practice before that. The precaution of providing officers' notes is not at all extraordinary.

1. On page 34, Mr. Ferguson also indicated that the police, referring to Det. Jackson, in this case, had been very careful to comply with disclosure requests from the Defense. Upon instruction from the prosecutor's office the extraordinary precaution of providing police notes was effected in this case. The counsel completed the examination of the Delta police files on Tuesday. Mr. Ferguson neglected to say in this part of his report that the police did not provide full disclosure. In fact he, himself, found material that had not been disclosed to the Defense, namely a videotape made by Cst. Roberts that could be included as police notes, and the wiretap evidence relating to Dawn Lord.

1. Of interest, is the fact that the police reports and notes of Det. Ingenthron were not provided as part of disclosure materials, and these notes and subsequent follow up report indicated clearly that his original time estimates, 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. on the night of October 5, 1990, were reasonable. Changing the time to 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. is not reasonable in terms of his other details such as it was dark out.

• dated February 7, 1992, to Peter Firestone,
• dated April 7, 1992, to Harold Rusk,
• dated April 30, 1992, to Peter Firestone.

1. On page 35, Mr. Ferguson explains why David Muir would not co-operate with the investigation. He talked to Vivian Muir for approximately an hour, in which time she explained that her family was greatly concerned with David's safety while he remained in jail. Mrs. Muir was of the opinion that any co-operation with the authorities is described as ratting and can result in severe repercussions for the rat. She goes on to explain that it would not take long for word to get back to the penal institution where her son is housed that he provided information or allowed access to information relating to Darren Huenemann and Derik Lord. The fear shared by the Muirs has been amplified by an apparent attempt to make David Muir a target of a contract killing. She alsoexplained that for some reasons she did not want to reveal anything about what she knows of her son's activities in relation to the night of the Sharon Huenemann and Doris Leatherbarrow murders. Mrs. Muir's concerns are valid, as are our concerns about our son. The implication that it appears Mr. Ferguson is trying to make is that Derik Lord or Darren Huenemann has put out a contract on David Muir. This is simply not the case. As any one who has a child in prison in Canada can tell you, the prison system is an extremely violent atmosphere and you have fear for your loved ones at all times.

Consider that Mr. Ferguson convince a police officer, Insp. LeRoy, trained in observing detail and being able to recount these details in court under cross examination, a police officer trained to provide expert testimony, to change his conviction that he did indeed video tape the crime scene, and that he forwarded that tape and other material to the Delta Police Department.

Counsel for both appeals, Mr. Donald Martin, requested through Mr. Lord that Mr. Ferguson contact him at his convenience. He indicated that he had some insights he wished to share with Mr. Ferguson. It is noted that Mr. Ferguson did not contact him. As well, Mr. Ferguson did not report any comments or findings from Ms. Susan Beach.  Ms. Beach expresses her opinion that as co-counsel for Derik Lord, she felt the wiretap tape and Dawn Lord were very valuable evidence supporting the Defense and this evidence, the wiretap, was never disclosed to the Defense.

Mr. Ferguson made the comment that Mr. Firestone had found no surprises in the evidence presented.  Mr. Ferguson noted that the rebuttal witness, Jackie McIntyre was called. This witness was a surprise at trial, as was the other rebuttal witness Mr. Madigan attempted to introduce, Danielle Protti. These witnesses were called at the last moment, their statements provided and their potential use as witnesses made available to Peter Firestone at the Court house immediately before the resumption of the case on the Monday of the final week. Mr. Firestone had no time to digest what these witnesses offered, or what they might say, or what he might be able to counter with on cross examination.

1. Mr. Ferguson goes on, on Page 36, to say that he phoned Mr. Ralph Huenemann on April 19, 1996. This call was in reply to a letter written by Mr. Huenemann on March 28, 1996, in which Mr. Huenemann wanted to express his views on the section 690 application of Derik Lord. This poses the question: How did Mr. Huenemann find out about the section 690 application? Does Mr. Huenemann have people inside the justice system who are feeding him information? Mr. Huenemann apparently knew of this application a full month before Mr. Ferguson contacted him. I do note that Mr. Ferguson did not include Mr. Huenemann's letter in regards to Derik's 690 application and I hope the reader will not be influenced by what must be a very grievous loss by Mr. Huenemann. Mr. Huenemann's loss has no bearing on whether Derik Lord had a fair trial or especially if Derik Lord is eventually found not guilty of the heinous crime.

"Departmental counsel explained the role of the Minister of Justice in section 690 reviews. Mr. Ralph Huenemann mentioned, during the phone conversation, that soon after the trial and conviction of her son, Vivian Muir had called him with a specific request from her son. Apparently, David Muir had requested that Ralph Huenemann attend the institution where David Muir was imprisoned so that he could ask for forgiveness. Ralph Huenemann was not prepared to oblige David Muir at this time, and has had no contact with David Muir since."

This is part of the program of the Correctional Service of Canada in that part of your rehabilitation is coming to terms with your crime and getting forgiveness from the individuals involved. David Muir was doing nothing more than was asked of him by the Correctional Service of Canada. This is part of the violent offenders program covered under the Correctional Service of Canada.

1. On page 37, Mr. Ferguson states: Departmental investigation has revealed that Amanda Cousins provided a statement to police and testified at trial about statements made by the appellant or in the presence of the appellant which he did not deny at the time. This is an untrue statement. Derik has denied any involvement in the crime at any time in the planning or in the execution of this crime. He has denied Amanda Cousins' statements over and over again. He cannot demand that a statement be withdrawn.

Mr. Ferguson goes to great lengths in this section to describe the number of people he spoke to and asked whether Sgt. LeRoy had a video camera at the time and whether he video taped the scene. No one could remember it, but in actual fact, Insp. LeRoy told the department on March 14, 1996, that he had made a video tape of the crime scene as was his usual practice at the time. Insp. LeRoy indicated that his usual practice was to videotape the progress of his examination, not for the purposes of gathering evidence, but to assist himself in preparing his written notes. On March 14, 1996, he also informed departmental counsel that he had provided all materials pertaining to his examination of the crime scene directly to the Delta police. Mr. Ferguson went to great lengths to discredit this portion of the applicant's submission. He informed Insp. LeRoy of the comments of the other officers at the crime scene, and Insp. LeRoy's comments in reply were that it was his assumption that he had videotaped the crime scene, but he had no specific memory of doing so. In his final analysis, Mr. Ferguson said he was able to convince Insp. LeRoy that he did not videotape the crime scene that day. Yet, up until March 14, 1996, Insp. LeRoy was convinced that he had. I wonder how many cases Insp. LeRoy has covered since 1990 and how his recollection is of those. It remains our contention that a videotape was made by Insp. LeRoy, as he confirmed on March 14, 1996, and that since then departmental counsel has attempted to convince everyone that it does not exist. There is additional detail on this issue in the section dealing with no disclosure.

1. On page 42, Mr. Ferguson finally makes reference to the videotape that Cst. Roberts made on October 6, 1990, and was not disclosed to Defense counsel. Cst. Roberts indicated that the purpose for the videotaping was for the presentation of his report only. Up to this time, police notes have always been given to the Defense in order that Defense have a complete picture of what was done by the police and how the investigation was conducted. This videotape was nothing less than police officers notes.

1. Further on page 42, Departmental counsel also requested the photographs of the crime scene that were taken by Sgt. LeRoy on October 6, 1990. These photographs were not utilised at trial nor were they ever provided to the Defense. This is another indication of evidence that was withheld from the Defense. Mr. Ferguson attempts in this section to confound the reader by adding a silly little section in stating that there is no sound on the tape and that the time on the electronic camera had jammed. Completely unrelated information that had no relevance in this section and yet was used just to confuse the issue.

1. "In summary, the fact that Sgt. LeRoy was present at the crime scene and that he conducted an examination was known to the Defense through the disclosure of Sgt. LeRoy's written report, the case summary prepared by Det. Bill Jackson, and Cst. Roberts written report. Sgt. LeRoy was acting in the assistance capacity to the Delta Police at the time. Cst. Roberts, who was the lead Identification specialist on the case testified at the trial and in fact answered questions on cross examination about Sgt. LeRoy's function at the crime scene."

33. Section 3, submissions relating to factual issues known to the Defense at trial.

Part of the purpose of this portion of the Applicant's submission is to show that with the non disclosure of evidence and with the part which had not previously been covered by the courts coupled with what was covered by the courts led to a miscarriage of justice.

The shoe imprint found at the crime scene was described as 11" which we were led to understand is equivalent to a size 10 footprint.

Alan Ferguson goes on to explain that Cst. Roberts compared Derik's shoe to the impression at the crime scene, and found faint, only suggestive similar pattern of the running shoe taken from Derik Lord. This is again an indication of Mr. Ferguson's attempt to persuade the reader that the evidence was conclusive. In actual fact, Constable Roberts concluded from his comparison that the crime scene impression was faint and only suggestive of the pattern of the running shoes seized from Derik Lord. Mr. Ferguson left out : "Any perceived resemblance is subjective and, in my opinion, of negative value." Make no mistake, in Cst. Roberts' opinion, this evidence was in favour of the Defense.

The fact that the footprint was found in a ransacked bedroom was also missed by Mr. Ferguson. The individual who produced that footprint was in a room that was ransacked so therefore we assume that he was the one who ransacked that room. Mr. Ferguson goes on to state: "There is no evidence to even suggest who actually made the imprint in the carpet. Nor is there evidence to prove when the imprint was made." The fact is it was a ransacked room.

34. "Part b) Lack of Forensic evidence linking the appellant to the crime scene" , was again covered in court, but to further the applicant's application, we have included some parts which were questionable at trial. Indeed Mr. Ferguson confirms the fact that no forensic evidence linking Derik Lord or David Muir to the crime scene was known to the court.

35. "Part c) Paint from Victims' wounds did not match the type of paint on the crowbars allegedly used by the applicant."

Mr. Ferguson uses David Muir's unwarned statement over and over again in this brief. David Muir's statement was never made or signed. It was inadmissible in court and is not credible now. If it is to even be seen as minimally credible, there must be an audio or video tape of this confession. To this date all we have are two police officers who are desperate writing out a confession which was rejected completely by David Muir. The officers never had a reason to make the arrest at this time. They were desperate to get something they could hold the boys with. Ever since Donald Marshal's inquiry, the Crown has been told, the police have been told, that they should be audio taping or videotaping all interviews with juveniles. This was not done at Delta. We suggest it was not done on purpose because of the violence that was used in the interrogation of these two young men.

Because Mr. Ferguson seems to think that unless we make immediate objections to his statements that we have accepted them, on page 45, we object to his use of David Muir's unsigned statement. That simply does not exist, it never has existed, It is unsigned not a legal document in any way shape or form.

To summarise Mr. Ferguson's findings on the crowbar issue, all the forensic reports, all the studies, all the examinations of crowbars provided to the police showed that the paint did not match. Mr. Ferguson again refers to David Muir's statement which is invalid, saying that the crowbars were thrown overboard. Yet, on a full ferry, on a long weekend, with the ferry jammed with people, nobody said they saw anybody throw any bag or crowbars overboard. No witnesses were ever produced to substantiate this part of the fairy tale.

1. On page 46, Mr. Ferguson states:

Again, that statement of David Muir's is not valid. And also, the fact that he says "may have been crowbars" is not confirmation they were crowbars at all. There is no scientific evidence produced by the crime lab that shows that crowbars were used. The only evidence you have is from Amanda Cousins who was told by the police what they thought the weapon was and she put it in her story.

37. Page 46, "Part d Lack of positive identification evidence."

Mr. Ferguson goes on not to explain the lack of positive evidence , but to continue his tirade against Derik, the applicant. With this statement:

"The departmental investigation has revealed the following: Of the four individuals allegedly involved in either the murders or the alibi cover up, only the applicant has steadfastly maintained that he and David Muir were window shopping in downtown Victoria during the afternoon and evening of October 5, 1990."

This has nothing to do with the positive identification. This just maintains Derik's story, which he has never changed, that everybody else has played with and changed.

38. "The taxi operator, Parmjit Bhinder selected David Muir from a photo gallery as one of two passengers he picked up at the ferry terminal at approximately 4:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on October 5, 1990, and drove to the Tsawwassen Safeway Mall. His testimony at trial coincided with the unwarned statement provided by David Muir."  Mr. Bhinder did not provide positive identification. He did not identify David Muir in court, and his statement said "Rings a bell". (transcript page 704) In cross examination, Mr. Firestone had him admit that it could have been September 21, 1990. (Transcript page 707).

"Daniel May successfully selected photographs of Derik Lord and David Muir as similar to the two individuals he witnessed near the LEATHERBARROW residence at approximately 6:30 p.m. on October 5, 1990".

Again, Daniel May's testimony at trial was in harmony with the unwarned statement of David Muir. (David Muir's unwarned statement is not factual or admissible. Daniel May did not positively identify either boy, only their hair cuts. He was not asked to pick them out in court.) Again, this is not new evidence; it has been gone over at trial. It is used at this point because of the non disclosure and the other errors in this trial to further the applicant's allegation that a fair trial did not exist.

39. On page 47, the evidence of Julie McClung is discussed again.  He states Julie McClung, a witness who knew the Applicant from before, testified at the Applicant's trial that she saw Derik Lord on the 7:00 p.m. ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on October 5, 1990. She recalled that it was the Thanksgiving weekend. Since it was a holiday sailing, the ferry was about 20 minutes late. In her written statement provided to the police on December 6, 1990, she said that she knew Derik Lord from Arbutus and Mount Douglas Schools. She also told the police that her sister had informed her that Dawn Lord had been saying at school that Derik Lord was in Victoria shopping on the evening of October 5, 1990, and he had returned home by 8:30 that evening. Julie McClung said she knew that this was not true because she had seen him on the 7:00 p.m. ferry from Tsawwassen to Victoria. She stated that the ferry was very busy with holiday travellers on the evening that she was the Applicant on the ferry.

Julie McClung had not seen Derik for at least 4 months, as she was a year ahead of Derik in school and the last possible time could have seen him was at the end of June, 1990. Julie McClung was in a course with Derik at Arbutus Junior Secondary which went to grade 10. Mount Douglas went from 11 and 12. Derik spent his grade 10 at Arbutus while Julie McClung went to Mount Douglas for grade 11. Derik moved to Mount Douglas for grade 11, which put Julie McClung in grade 12. And therefore she would only have passed Derik in the hallways. Mount Douglas had a student population of over 900 students in 1989, 1990. Derik and Julie McClung were not in the same social circles and therefore the latest possible time Julie McClung could have seen Derik before October 5, 1990, was in the last part of June, 1990, a full 4 months before her sighting on
the ferry. Note she did not speak to the person she thought was Derik.

Julie McClung's sister confirms Dawn's statements at school about Derik's whereabouts, i. e., they confirm the alibi evidence. The Crown used hearsay evidence of Amanda Cousins to prove their case, the Defense would have been able to confirm Dawn Lord's evidence that Derik was home by 8:30 p.m. Julie McClung gave her story to the police on December 6, 1990. Two full months after she said she saw Derik on the October 5, 1990, ferry. She admitted under cross examination that she was on the ferry on September 21, 1990, the same one Derik said he took.

40. The Delta Sunshine Cab Company indicates that a call came from a person called "Dave" from the Tsawwassen Mall at 6:45 p.m. The Safeway mall is 1.7 km from the residence. If everyone's indication of time stands up, then Danny May was to have seen the boys looking lost near the residence at 6:45 PM. The two boys could not have been in two places at once. Charles Smith said he saw one of the women in the car at 8:00 p.m. He said it was dark out. The Vancouver Sun said that the sun set at 6:43 p.m. It was still light then. The weather was clear and sunny. Daylight would have lasted about another half hour. It was still light when the cab was called to the Tsawwassen mall. If the two men the taxi driver picked up wanted to catch the 7:00 p.m. ferry, I guess they were in a hurry. They had only 15 minutes to make a ferry which should have left at 7:00 p.m. not 7:30 p.m.

What was the point in obtaining a statement from David Muir which was not admissible. Det. Jackson advised Muir that his lawyer had mentioned he may be a witness and we needed to know what evidence he could give before we could discuss anything on what made him a witness. Muir was advised that anything he said was not admissible and he agreed to tell the whole story which he said his lawyer already knew. Why, if the police were going to take this written statement, did they not take it off a tape recorder, and then they could have taken it down verbatim from the tape recording. This comes from page 25 of the report to Crown counsel found at TAB 30 in Mr. Ferguson's brief.

One of the things that Mr. Ferguson does not discuss in this brief at all is any explanation or information that he came up with in regards to the fact that the Crown was going to use David Muir as a Crown witness in return for not raising him to adult court. But we surmise that David Muir never became a Crown witness because the Crown realised that David Muir was not an honest or credible witness. Yet, Mr. Ferguson continues to use his statement to continually add credibility to what was and is not credible.

1. On page 48, again Mr. Ferguson contradicts reality in that he says:

Mr. Ferguson is well aware, if he read those evaluations of Darren Huenemann, that Mr. Huenemann is not based in reality. That he does not know what is real and what is fantasy. This statement is totally inaccurate.

43. Page 48, "f) no record of phone call from ferry to the Huenemann residence on October 5, 1990."

Mr. Ferguson's attempt to make me look foolish at requesting the information from BCTel on the phones from the ferries is nothing less than contempt. The private investigator contacted BCTel and he was told that the records that he was after for October 5, 1990 had disappeared. Refer to his affidavit, provided in the submissions. Now, Mr. Ferguson tells us that BCTel says there are no records kept on those ferries. And yet, BCTel told the private investigator that there were. This is not my error, it is BCTel's error for telling us that those phones had records. And it is a logical conclusion since all long distance telephones are supposed to have records kept or else there is no indication whether BCTel is charging a fair fee or not, or whether the time is right or not. All this whole thing indicates is that it depends on who you talk to at BCTel as to what information you are going to get.

44. g) Evidence of Charles Arthur Smith.

Mr. Ferguson is incorrect in his evaluation of this part. He states:

" Departmental investigation has revealed the following: On October 6, 1990, the statement of Charles Smith was disclosed to Defense before trial. Mr. Smith testified at the Huenemann trial about what he remembered of the events of October 5, 1990. Mr. Smith's evidence at Darren Huenemann's trial was to the effect that he thought he saw Sharon Huenemann getting out of Doris Leatherbarrow's cadillac at about 8:00 p.m. on the night of the murders. The cadillac was located in the carport of the Leatherbarrow residence at the time he observed the event."

The impression Mr. Ferguson would appear to be giving on this is that the cadillac would have brought the women home. In actual fact, the cadillac was not licensed and getting out was not correct, she was backing out. This follows up on his original statement in that he saw somebody looking through the glove box who he thought was Sharon Huenemann about 8:00 p.m. on the night of the murders.

On page 24, of Darren Huenemann's transcript, Mr. Smith testifies:

" Well, essentially I went to our kitchen window and I saw a light on in the car which was in the driveway of Doris' home and I assumed it was her cadillac. And I thought it was unusual because her cadillac, up to that point, had not been insured. So I thought why was she in her car when it does not have insurance. Then I saw someone backing out of the passenger side and it didn't look like Doris because she was a little bit slimmer than Doris. Doris was fairly hefty. And the door closed and I closed my blinds. And that was all that I saw."

This was under oath. The original statement of Charles Smith which the Defense got indicates that about 8:00 or 8:30, he was standing in the kitchen window and he noticed the light come on in the caddie. So it was definitely dark so he could notice the light coming on in the caddie.

Police report by officer Ingenthron, Delta police, dated 90-10-07, written here at 10-06, at 9:45 in the morning :

"writer attended at 4890 8A Ave., which is the house that is directly north of the victims' residence. The residence fronts onto 8A Avenue with the rear of the house facing the north side of the victim's residence. The residence affords a view of the victim's car port and vehicles that are parked in the driveway of the victim's residence. Upon attending 4890 8A Avenue, the writer spoke to Charles Smith in regards to hearing or seeing anything suspicious at the victim's residence. From Smith it was learned that he returned from Tokyo at 07:20 hours and upon arriving home and greeting his children he went to bed and got up around noon. He thought he saw the victim's van in the driveway sometime during the afternoon, but could not be sure. He further stated that at about 20:00 to 20:30 hours he looked out the kitchen window and noted the inside dome light was on in the victim's cadillac. He was able to see a female person in the vehicle and he thought it was the victim's daughter as the woman was wearing glasses and apparently the victim's daughter also wears glasses. The light went out in the vehicle and he noted no further activity. He was able to provide the time frame in that he and his wife put the children to bed at this time and that is what they were doing when he noted the light. Other than the aforementioned described incident, Smith could offer no further info other than it was an unusually quiet Friday night. "

There was a notation on the bottom of these hand-written notes which asked: "what was female wearing?" There is no notation as to whether an answer to this question was ever obtained. It could have been helpful in determining who was seen in the car that night.

A further interview with Charles Smith dated 90-10-09, typed, and no indication as to who did the report, confirms that it was dark outside. And it was definitely after 7:30 p.m.

" Interview of Mr. Charles Smith. Interviewed originally by Det. Ingenthron, Smith indicated that he had provided information to Detective Ingenthron that he was standing at his kitchen window briefly and upon looking out of the window, he noted that the interior light was on in the cadillac parked at LEATHERBARROW's residence. He also indicated that he thought a female was inside of the vehicle. Smith re-evaluated his observations and indicated that the person may not have been female; it was thought to be only because he had seen Sharon and Doris when they left for work on Friday morning. Sharon was wearing glasses at that time and therefore when he saw this individual, inside of the cadillac, he saw only the back of the person and not the front or a profile and that the individual was backing out of the passenger side of the car, and then the door was shut. It was dark outside and at the same time, he had closed the venetian blinds. When I re-examined what Smith saw, there was an area of about 12 " to observe and all of the space would be through a 1" slot of the venetian blind. Therefore when Smith feels that what he saw was in fact Sharon, he feels this observation was based only on the fact that he had seen her earlier on in the day and he knew it wasn't Doris because she was fairly large across the shoulder area, and the person in the cadillac was smaller in size. As far as the time, it was dark outside and that complete darkness doesn't usually come until 7:30 p.m. on. So it would have to be after that time. He did feel however that it was close to 8:00 p.m. around the same time they put the kids to bed."

This follow up report is dated the 9^th. There is no time marked nor any indication as to who did the follow up interview. According to the letter from Peter Firestone, dated May 7, 1992 Mr. Firestone notes, upon seeing this report in the file at the police station in Saanich just before trial, that the police were attempting to persuade Mr. Smith to change his story. Mr. Ferguson continues to have Mr. Smith change his story.

Again, as an indication of Mr. Ferguson's bias, on page 50, he states that Mr. Smith explained that he arrived home from Tokyo at 10:00 am. If Mr. Ferguson had checked the statements made by Mr. Smith, he would find out that Mr. Smith said, just shortly after the incident, that he arrived home at 7:30, not 10:00, and that he slept until approximately noon. If Mr. Ferguson had checked further police reports and interviews with Mr. Smith, he would have found out that as for the time, it was dark outside, says the police report, and that complete darkness does not usually come until 7:30 p.m. . In actual fact, the Vancouver Sun reported that the sun set at 6:43 p.m. The officer making that report is correct, it was not dark until after 7:30 p.m. on October 5, 1990. Mr. Ferguson continues, in his report on page 50, that Mr. Smith now says that he never slept during the day even though he suffered from jet lag, but his statement from a day after the murders says that he went to bed and went to sleep. He also testified at trial that he had gone to bed for a couple of hours in the morning. Where is Mr. Ferguson's objectivity in this case? It obviously does not exist. It is interesting that Mr. Ferguson would put such emphasis on the memory of a man six years after the event and put so little on statements on a time much closer to the incident. Mr. Smith's story is very similar to Amanda Cousins in that Mr. Smith is a grown man, he has been intimidated by Mr. Ferguson and the police to change his story completely from when it was an unsolicited, unencumbered statement made the day after the murders took place. Mr. Smith's intimidation further shows in that he says now in Mr. Ferguson's page 50 that he is more certain that the time was 5:45 to 6:00 p.m. when he noticed the automobile in the LEATHERBARROW carport and took the action that he did to close the window blinds. Mr. Smith said it was dark outside, but at 5:45 or 6:00 p.m. it was definitely not dark outside. The sun was in full view.

Mr. Ferguson goes on to use another witness which we were not able to cross examine at trial, Hillary Meredith Smith, who Mr. Ferguson quotes to further back up Mr. Smith's testimony.

On page 51, Mr. Ferguson comes across again another indication as to why we were not particularly pleased with the Defense counsel in that he did not call Mr. Smith to testify thus establishing that one of the women was alive after 8 o'clock at night.

Summarising the evidence of Mr. Charles Smith; the Vancouver Sun states the sun did not set until 6:45, Mr. Smith states in a statement the next day after the murders that he saw one of the women alive at 8:00 p.m., Mr. Smith also states that it was dark outside, confirming the time. Mr. Ferguson's continuing conversations with Mr. Smith were not subject to cross examination and therefore are totally unusable.

1. On page 55,

If the B. C. Ferries is to be believed than how can Amanda Cousins be even close to correct at 9:30 at night since there is no possible way to make it from a walk on from a ferry that arrives at 9:01, walk off the ferry, and arrive at our residence in a half an hour. The drive alone usually takes the half hour, especially when ferry traffic is heavy. To walk off the ferry and out to the parking lot to meet someone usually takes about 10 minutes, with nearly five minutes for the draw bridge joining the ferry to the walkway to be deployed. This is further indication that Amanda Cousins continued to lie with the support of the police throughout this entire thing. Again, on September 21, 1990, the boys arrived home at 9:30 p.m. after riding the 7:00 p.m. ferry from Tsawwassen as walk on passengers, and this ferry was close to on time.

46. Page 56, "Miscellaneous submissions concerning the facts and process of this case."

This is a continuation of what was provided in court, what was decided in court, but if the new evidence and the hidden evidence from the Crown is to be used, it has to be used in conjunction with all the rest of the case, and not in isolation.

47. Page 56, "The Applicant was tried before a jury. He was afforded that right under Canadian law. The jury, after being instructed to weigh all the evidence for and against the accused found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murders as charged"

This statement confirms that Mr. Ferguson, as well as the Court of Appeal put themselves in the position of the jury indicating how the jury thought, which none of them can do.

48. Page 56, " The Applicant appealed to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Again, he was afforded this extra measure of protection against wrongful conviction under Canadian law. A panel of three Superior Court Justices found that in the circumstances, the Applicant's appeal must fail"

Mr. Ferguson has already forgotten what he wrote on page 23,

"The court unanimously dismissed the first grounds on the basis that although such a misdirection of the jury would ordinarily merit a new trial, it was of the opinion that no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice had occurred as a result of the error of misdirection."

Under normal circumstances Derik would have received a new trial from the B.C.C.A. Now, Derik is entitled to a new trial because of the fact that not only should he have received a new trial from the Appeal Court, but now new evidence has been disclosed that has been found to have been withheld.

49. Page 56 " The Applicant then appealed to the supreme Court of Canada, a third level of precaution against wrongful conviction. The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the decision of the Appeal Court of British Columbia and rejected the Appeal."

Again, Mr. Ferguson has not indicated the truth in that the Supreme Court did not know that the Crown had withheld evidence from the Defense. Evidence that I again remind Mr. Ferguson and the reader that was found by Mr. Ferguson during his investigation. Evidence that we had applied to get from the Court and we were denied. We applied for information from Justice Southam October 12, 1995.

50. Page 57, The B.C.C.A. ignored violations of the law, and B.C.C.A. erred in its ruling on reasonable doubt. The reasons these were put in was to further the application. It could not be furthered in isolation. The whole trial had many errors in it, and coupled all together with the non disclosure, made for a retrial.

1. Page 58,

This is a personal opinion of Mr. Justice Wood. In actual fact, he does not know whether or not one of the jurors was unable to explain his reason and how the jurors thought of this explanation of reasonable doubt. The flaw in J. Wood's reasoning is that it presupposes that the jury did not use Huenemann's hearsay statement about the Applicant's role to buttress the conclusion that he was a probable member of the common plan. Once you acknowledge this, then the fact that the jury believed Amanda Cousins is beside the point. The prejudice occurs in that the jury may have reached that conclusion by way of a prohibited path of reasoning. Such an articulation of what is reasonable doubt, i. e., that which requires the juror to give an explanation if asked, is far more stringent than that required by law. Cases which back up this argument include: R. v. Palfenier (1976), 33 C.C.C. (2d) 28 at 34 - 35 ( B.C.C.A.) , R. v. Stafford (1968), 53 Cr. App. R. 1 at 2, and R. v. Fiqueira (1981) , 63 C.C.C. (2d) 409 at 410 - 441 (Ont. C.A.)

52. Page 58, "The trial judge interfered with the questioning of witnesses."

On Page 59, Mr. Ferguson states,

"No issue was taken at trial or on appeal with the manner with which the trial judge asked questions of the witness who testified."

No issue was taken at trial or appeal, that's correct, but that doesn't mean that the judge did not indicate favour to the prosecution as he did constantly throughout the trial, and which affected the jury and the outcome of the trial. The judge is to be seen as and in effect to be a neutral party, not one who questions witnesses and answers for witnesses. Mr. Ferguson has again missed the fact that appeals are limited in size and therefore argument.

53. Page 58, "The trial judge was sarcastic and mocking of Defense counsel."

Page 60, " The jury was not present to hear any of the above noted passages from the trial transcripts. … No issue was taken at trial or on appeal in the manner in which the trial judge made comments to counsel."

Mr. Ferguson did not investigate any further than the comments I gave him. There are over 1000 pages of transcript and within the first 29 pages of transcript, there are 4 separate sarcastic, humiliating, or mocking remarks to Defense counsel. Even though the jury was not present for these remarks, they were present for many others. With a transcript of over 1000 pages, and with 4 sarcastic remarks within the first 29 pages, it averages out that there were more than 156 sarcastic mocking remarks made by this judge to the Defense.

54. Page 60, "The Trial judge unfairly questions witnesses."

On page 61, Mr. Ferguson again

"No issue was taken at trial or on appeal with the manner in which the trial judge asked questions of the witnesses who testified. … The Applicant has not provided an argument as to how these questions asked by the judge were unfair."

To start with, again, the judge does not appear to be a neutral person. If he is doing the prosecutor's job, he is part of the prosecution. In all cases, he assisted the prosecution, he did not assist the Defense. We have added submissions to this ground in another section of this response.

55. Page 61, the Defense was not made aware of physical evidence, the crowbars tested by the police.

Page 62,

"The forensic tests conducted with respect to crowbars occurred at a time when the police were attempting to establish the type of weapon used during the crime. The conclusion derived from these tests was that the blunt force injuries to the heads of the victims may have been caused by some kind of metal tool, like a crowbar. … Such an alleged weapon that actually caused the blunt force injuries was ever recovered. No forensic tests in this regard was conducted. … The subsequent revelation by David Muir, Amanda Cousins, and Darren Huenemann, suggested that the initial conclusions submitted on October 26, 1990, by forensic chemist, Brian Callowhill was accurate."

The fact remains that the paints do not match any of the crowbars that were tested. And we submit that crowbars were not used and it was never confirmed.

Despite Mr. Ferguson's assumption that David Muir, Darren Huenemann and Amanda Cousins had confessed to this fact that crowbars were used, the fact is, Brian Callowhill, the forensic chemist confirmed that none of the crowbars purchased had the type of paint that was found in the skulls. The facts contradict the stories coming from the individuals.

56. Page 63, the hair samples tested by police

"A review of Defense files has revealed that a list of exhibits from the crime scene and all forensic reports involving the murders of Sharon Huenemann and Doris Leatherbarrow were provided to the Defense in the usual course of disclosure."

This is definitely not true, as we have asked for a complete list of all exhibits and still to this date have not obtained a complete list of all exhibits. Refer to Mr. Ferguson's TAB 14, page 8 of the Report to Crown was left out of the Defense materials. Mr. Ferguson added it himself. Also, note at TAB 48 of Mr. Ferguson's brief, the Court Exhibit Report, 10 pages in length, has been submitted by Mr. Ferguson. This report was not among the Defense disclosure materials found at TAB 49 of his brief. It is noted that the above mentioned exhibit list is not found anywhere in the Defense materials. We do not agree with the statement that it was disclosed to the Defense. Refer to the tape log of November 23, 1990. Here we see two references of phone calls, only one of which has recently been unearthed by Mr. Ferguson. This had not been disclosed to the Defense either.

1. On page 64,

This report we got violates the privacy act and indicates that the police got the files mixed up. How else could we have got this report. What other information did we not receive that was put in someone else's file? I wish to confirm at this point on page 64, that Mr. Ferguson is finally right. The applicant's trial counsel had full opportunity to pursue any question as to where the exhibits came from and the forensic testing that occurred in this case. The jury was provided with written admissions to the fact that there was no physical evidence linking the applicant to the crime scene. We completely concur that there is no physical evidence linking the applicant to the scene.

1. Mr. Ferguson states on page 66:

If it were, Mr. Ferguson would have been able to find and provide at tab the Defense counsel's copies. The disclosure of exhibits was so bad that the Defense received forensic reports from the other murders. Mr. Ferguson noted that the forensic report regarding Derik's runners was not included in the Defense disclosure files. Still not disclosed is whether or not similar tests were done on David Muir's shoes. We suspect these tests were done, but were also negative, so not disclosed as they did not further the Crown's case. Such disclosure would have been helpful to the Defense.

1. On page 71,

Mr Ferguson's comments reveal that he could not find out what the equipment was or what it was used for. If the Defense had known what equipment was brought in and what it was used for, we would have been aware long ago that Cst. Roberts had video-taped the crime scene. Mr. Ferguson himself found and revealed a video tape he said Cst. Roberts made and did not disclose to the Defense. What was the other equipment and what was it used for? The video tape by Cst. Roberts reveals that when he took the tape, there were no other police officers in sight. This same scenario I am sure would cover Sgt. LeRoy, as he would not be interested in video taping other police officers.

60. "I) The police did not electronically record important statements made by Amanda Cousins and David Muir." Page 71.

Ever since the Donald Marshall inquiry police forces across this country have been encouraged to video or audio tape interviews not put their views of what was said in writing. These tapes are then used by the prosecution or Defense to realistically evaluate what was actually said. Mr. Ferguson has a very different interpretation than what Peter Firestone has of the conversation which they had. Mr. Ferguson's interpretation of what Dawn said under oath is not substantiated by the transcript which was recorded in writing and on audio tape at the time. Therefore, an electronic recording of the conversation would have been helpful.

61. "Evidence provided to Darren Huenemann's lawyer was not disclosed to the Applicant." (Page 72) "The Applicant has provided no factual information to support the allegation that relevant information, which was disclosed to Darren Huenemann's lawyer, was withheld from the Applicant or his trial Defense counsel."

Factual evidence to back up this contention is found in the materials provided to Mr. Ferguson through obtaining the disclosure materials from the Defense. A copy of the letter from McDonagh, Considine & Co. dated 18/7/91 has been in Mr. Ferguson's possession long enough for him to have found and read it.

62. "K) The prosecution of the case was based on lies, deceit, and intimidation of the witnesses on the part of both the prosecutors and the police." Page 72

Mr. Ferguson noted that Mr. Smith was willing to change his story. Police have tried also to get him to do that. Amanda Cousins was treated to some pretty profound badgering in order to get her statement finally the way they wanted it to be on the 28^th of November. She had been hounded by repeated visits and questioning until she finally gave in. Dave Muir's supposed confession is also the result of badgering and persistent hounding. Even though the police deny it, they have hounded witnesses into changing their stories. Brian Callowhill is not immune. He maintains that it must have been a crowbar even though he couldn't find one in which the paint matched. Dr. Ruth Sellers changed the estimation of time of death until the range was wide enough to permit the story to emerge the way the police wanted it to.

1. L) "The wiretapped telephone conversations prove that "the boys" did not commit the murders." (page 73)

64. M) "The police told Amanda Cousins about the crime scene and their theories." (page 76). This is evidenced in the testimony in which she states that they did tell her some things. She said they did not tell her all the details, but she does admit that they told her some facts. We submit that what they did not tell her, they told her mother. Sara Cousins had many conversations with Det. Jackson.

65. N) "There were problems with the pathologist's estimation concerning the time of Death." The wide range of the time of death is so wide as to appear staged. We submit that the wide range is to avoid ruling out any potential suspects in a case fraught with difficulty.

Going through the important issues one by one will give the reader a clearer idea of the gross miscarriage of justice which has occurred here. This case has been fraught with problems involving disclosure right from the beginning.

Mr. Peter Firestone wrote many letters requesting further disclosure, additional disclosure, complete disclosure, etc. At TAB #4 in our supplementary materials, are copies of some of the many letters he wrote.

In one letter, dated 7^th January, 1991, to Regional Crown Counsel, he writes:

"Both Mr. Macaulay and myself have requested in writing on a number of separate occasions further and better particulars. There is a raising hearing scheduled for February of this year and it is imperative that I be provided full disclosure in advance of the raising hearing. Would you please provide me full disclosure at this stage."

This letter demonstrates succinctly the difficulties in obtaining disclosure at the beginning of the process. Mr. Firestone first asked for a copy of the entire wiretap log in a letter dated 17^th January, 1991, noting in his letter that only partial logs were provided. He wrote again to repeat his request for full particulars on the 11^th of February, 1991, and at the same time, he asked for:

"copies of all the police notes of any police officer during this investigation who may have had contact with Darren Huenemann, David Muir, Derik Lord, and Amanda Cousins."

And, in the same letter,

"I wrote to you in my letter of the 17^th of January 1991 requesting further particulars. I attach for your benefit a copy of my letter of the 17^th of January 1991 and I ask you to respond to it."

This request was repeated again in a letter dated 13^th June, 1991, indicating he still had not received disclosure of these notes a full six months following his request. The letter to Mr. Firestone which Mr. Ferguson includes in his materials, dated February 7, 1992, (a full year after the request) indicates that finally copies of the notes of some police officers involved were provided.

At this time, again only a partial wiretap tape log was disclosed. Only the log relating to Derik's phone was disclosed. However, more than his line was tapped. On February 18, 1992, Mr Firestone wrote again to obtain a complete log of the wiretap.

In a letter dated 30^th May, 1991, Mr Firestone says:

"Please be advised that I have requested on numerous occasions for copies of all forensic reports in this case. I have also requested on numerous occasions the return of my client's clothes which were seized by the police. The delay in responding to these requests is extraordinary and remains unexplained. If for any reason I do not have the clothes returned and the reports that I have requested by the 12^th of June, 1991, it will be my intention to bring an application to stay the charges on the basis of the recent decision of Mr. Justice Stewart in Denbeigh."

He further issued a request for the wiretap affidavit. Following that threat, the Crown finally wrote to say that disclosure of these materials would be forthcoming. Mr. Firestone's letter dated 14^th June, 1991, indicates that he had heard from Crown to the effect that the materials requested were coming, not that he had received them.

It is interesting to note that not all disclosure materials received by Mr. Firestone were disclosed by the Crown as the law says must occur. In a letter to Derik dated 15^th January, 1991, Mr. Firestone indicates that he received a copy of the unwarned statement of David Muir from Mr. Considine, the lawyer representing Mr. Huenemann in this matter. This should have come from Crown counsel much sooner than it did since the police had it from November 1990.

In another letter to Crown counsel dated 1^st May 1991, we see another aspect of disclosure. In paragraph 3, page 2, Mr. Firestone notes:

"3. The Crown in this case is guilty of failure to make timely disclosure to the defence. When I appeared at the bail hearing with my client in front of Mr. Justice Cohen, the Crown provided to me the following materials for the first time:

1. Letter of Principal D. Neumann, 17/12/90;
2. Letter of Nancy Reeves, Psychologist, 21/12/90;
3. Statement of Heather Cameron, 3/1/91;
4. Statement of Trish Henson, 3/1/91;
5. Statement of Sophia Tritt, undated statement transcribed on the 18/4/91;
6. Three-page report regarding Darren Huenemann, one dated 12/4/91 and the other dated 16/4/91.

As you are probably aware, Mr. Justice Stewart in a recent case quashed a serious drug indictment for the failure of the Crown to make timely disclosure. It will be my intention to seek to quash this direct indictment due to the Crown's failure to provide timely disclosure."

This letter can be found at TAB 5 of the materials provided with this response.

On the 14^th of April, 1992, Mr. Firestone again requests full and complete disclosure. He notes that with a pre-trial conference slated for April 23, 1992, he did not have materials relating to two witnesses on the Crown's list, as well as requesting the material upon which the Direct Indictment was made. The most glaring lack of complete disclosure comes upon his viewing of the Delta Police file, in Saanich, on April 10,, 1992. He writes: "The Crown provided us, through the Saanich Police, the entire Delta Police file. At least, that is what it was represented to be. After reviewing the file, I was not satisfied that I saw everything."

As Mr. Ferguson pointed out, the investigation showed that he was right in that supposition: he had not seen everything.

On page 36 of the Draft brief, Mr. Ferguson points out:

"Mr. Firestone was of the general opinion that the Applicant had received a fair trial although there were certain issues worthy of appeal. He was of the belief that the Defense had received after some initial difficulties and repeated requests, complete disclosure of the Crown's case. He stated that there were no surprises in the evidence presented at trial. He indicated that there were a number of legal arguments that could have been decided either way (i.e., the wiretap evidence), but overall, the Crown had a strong case against his client."

This is patently untrue. Based on facts, ( Mr. Firestone asked for a mistrial when Darren Huenemann was placed on the stand and the rebuttal witness Ms. Jackie MacIntyre was not on the Crown's witness list, just to name two ) we checked with Mr. Firestone. We asked him if that was indeed the gist of what he and Mr. Ferguson talked about. His response is attached to this submission as TAB # 6 .

The gist of what he replied is:

"I find this process with the Federal Government to be very unseemly. … During that meeting with Mr. Ferguson, he took no actual notes of our meeting nor was our interview tape-recorded by me."

The meeting referred to took two hours approximately.

" I never told Mr. Ferguson that in my opinion Derik Lord had received a fair trial. … I certainly indicated that I thought that Mr. Justice Fisher had acted unfairly during that trial."

Basically this letter indicates that Mr. Ferguson should have taken notes. It is obvious that he misconstrued the conversation and we submit he misconstrued or had his memory fail him when he spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Inspector LeRoy, Constable Roberts, and Detective Jackson to name a few others. His credibility is now in question regarding his recollections of other conversations.

From the first book of supplementary materials provided by Mr. Ferguson in his brief, we find at TAB 6 "Correspondence from Crown to Defense regarding Disclosure"

1. Letter to Peter Firestone from Sean Madigan dated February 7, 1992, stating that he is including police notes from the following officers:

S/Sgt. Roberts

Cst. Black (common log book with Roberts)

Sgt. Tragear

Cpl. Jackson

Det. Stabler

Sgt. Beaudoin

along with a tape log of the wiretap on Derik Lord's phone.

Please note the tape log is only of the wiretap on Derik Lord's phone. This is not a complete tape log which is required to satisfy complete disclosure by the Crown.

1. Letter sent by courier to Harold Rusk dated April 7, 1992 from Fran Maclean. This letter indicated that copies of notes from police officers Det. Stabler, Cst. Sales, S/Sgt. Davies and Sgt Beaudoin were being sent and further stated that there was a time problem in accommodating the request for notes of all (her underlining in letter) officers involved. Also confirmed that Rusk would be able to see the file at Saanich and that he has a witness list. (this letter was sent approximately one month before trial.) On page 2, an interesting comment: "The kitchen sink is enroute" This comment indicates an arrogant and uncooperative attitude regarding disclosure on the part of Crown. At the bottom, it is indicated that a copy is sent to Peter Firestone with copies of the above mentioned officers notes.
2. Letter to Peter Firestone dated April 30, 1992, noted that it was sent by courier, from Fran Maclean. There she indicates that she is sending copies of notes from Cst. Adams, (minus the notes containing confidential information regarding the whereabouts of Amanda Cousins), and the notes of Cst. Brandon. She goes on to say that she will not send notes of police officers from other agencies involved in surveillance of Derik, Darren, and David. Should not these be disclosed as well? Also enclosed according to the letter are "25 or so" additional statements of Darren Huenemann's acquaintances, victims' acquaintances, which Fran Maclean thought were irrelevant but included for use in preparing the Defense. These are not to be photocopied or released. Also sent were copies of log book entries relating to the 7 calls the Crown planned to use in court.

Mr. Ferguson mentions on page 10 of his brief, that:

"On November 23, 1990, Amanda Cousins telephoned Darren Huenemann. When she was asked why she phoned Darren Huenemann if she was afraid of him, she replied that she was afraid of being arrested but she was still afraid of Darren Huenemann."

One has to ask why this call was not used. It would have been far more damaging than the ones used if one is to believe the testimony of Amanda Cousins. Since we don't have the complete tape log, I suspect that this call was not used because the call was not made. The tape logs for the calls used in Court indicate that at the time she phoned Darren Huenemann, there were several calls made by Darren to others. Yet, this call to Darren does not show up. Neither does the call from Amanda Cousins to Darren Huenemann made at 4:28 p.m. on the 17^th of November. If the tape logs began on November 15^th as had been stipulated by the Crown, then where is this call? If these calls were as damaging as the Crown says, then where are they? It is our submission that these calls were never made. Thus Amanda Cousins testimony is perjured.

We have requested a complete tape log, but as of this date, have not yet received one.

Regarding the undisclosed videotape, we read on page 42, paragraph 3

"The videotape made by Cst. Roberts on the morning of October 6, 1990, was not disclosed to the Defense. Cst. Roberts agreed to provide Departmental counsel with a copy of that videotape for the purposes of the investigation. He said that it was not disclosed to the Defense because it was never considered as evidence. The purpose of the videotaping was for the preparation of his report only. It was always his intention to use still photographs of the crime scene as supplementary evidence to his testimony at trial. He said that such a videotape would have only revealed information of poorer quality which would have been redundant to the evidence presented at trial."

This submission indicates that evidence was knowingly and deliberately withheld. The video tape constituted police notes as Cst Roberts stated it was preparation of his report and was substituted for hand written notes, which are required to be disclosed.

Page 42, paragraph 5

"Departmental counsel also requested the photographs of the crime scene that were taken by Sgt. Herb LeRoy. On October 6, 1990. These photographs were not utilised at trial nor ever provided to the Defense."

Page 43, paragraph 2

"Departmental investigation has revealed that the videotape produced by Cst. Roberts and the photographs taken by Sgt. LeRoy were not provided to the Defense. The fact Sgt. LeRoy took photographs at the crime scene was disclosed to the Defense."

These two excerpts indicate that Mr. Ferguson did indeed find non disclosure.

Everyone is equal under the law. Yet we were denied, by the Courts, access to information because we did not possess a law degree, e.g., Darren Huenemann's psychiatric reports could not be given to us although they were sent directly to the office of the Minister of Justice. Madame Justice Southam refused to allow us full disclosure of the materials held at the Delta Police station. We now know, because of Mr. Ferguson's investigation, the Defense was deliberately denied full disclosure by the Delta Police. We have been denied by Justice Lander, June 13, 1995, a remedy under section 24 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because he stated he was not a court of competent jurisdiction and did not know of one. Interestingly, Justice Lander authorised the issuing of warrants for Derik Lord and David Muir yet he did not excuse himself from hearing our application for remedy under section 24 of the Canadian Charter of Rights. (see the letter from Crown counsel to Mr. Firestone dated May 1, 1991, at TAB 8). We prepared this 690 application without the benefit of full disclosure and with much of the material denied to us. However, our evaluation of Darren Huenemann was accurate and has brought Amanda Cousins' testimony into further disrepute by the fact she was quoting from a person living outside reality, if indeed the quotes are from her memory or part of the story she concocted.

Mr. Ferguson goes to great lengths in the section relating to our submission that evidence gathered at the crime scene by members of the RCMP, in particular, Sgt. LeRoy, was not disclosed. He describes the number of people he spoke to and asked whether Sgt. LeRoy had a video camera at the time and whether he video taped the scene. To quote from the draft brief, "none of these officers could remember". But in actual fact, Insp. LeRoy told the department on March 14, 1996,:

"that he had made a video tape of the crime scene as was his usual practice at the time. Insp. LeRoy indicated that his usual practice was to videotape the progress of his examination, not for the purposes of gathering evidence, but to assist himself in preparing his written reports. On March 14, 1996, he also informed Departmental counsel that he had provided all materials pertaining to his examination of the crime scene directly to the Delta police".

Mr. Ferguson attempted to discredit this portion of the Applicant's submission. He informed Insp. LeRoy of the comments of the other officers at the crime scene, and Insp. LeRoy's comments in reply were that it was his assumption that he had videotaped the crime scene, but he had no specific memory of doing so. In his final analysis, Mr. Ferguson believes he was able to convince Insp. LeRoy that he did not videotape the crime scene that day. Yet, up until March 14, 1996, Insp. LeRoy was convinced that he had. It remains our contention that a videotape was made by Insp. LeRoy, as he confirmed before March 14, 1996, and that since then departmental counsel has attempted to convinced everyone that it does not exist. Considering the Defense received disclosure from another Delta police case it seems plausible that information like a video tape from this case ended up in another Delta police file. One has to wonder why Mr. Ferguson didn't admit he couldn't find the video tape taken by Sgt. LeRoy instead of concocting the silly story he put in the brief. What were the police officers that say LeRoy didn't produce a video doing? Standing around watching others work? One can not believe that.

"Departmental counsel also requested the photographs of the crime scene that were taken by Sgt. LeRoy on October 6, 1990. These photographs were not utilised at trial nor were they ever provided to the Defense."

This is another indication of evidence that was withheld from the Defense. Mr. Ferguson attempts in this section to confound the reader by adding a silly little section in stating that there is no sound on the tape and that the time on the electronic camera had jammed. Completely unrelated information that had no relevance in this section and yet was used just to confuse the issue.

"In summary, the fact that Sgt. LeRoy was present at the crime scene and that he conducted an examination was known to the Defense through the disclosure of Sgt. LeRoy's written report, the case summary prepared by Det. Bill Jackson, and Cst. Roberts written report. Sgt. LeRoy was acting in the assistance capacity to the Delta Police at the time. Cst. Roberts, who was the lead Identification specialist on the case testified at the trial and in fact answered questions on cross examination about Sgt. LeRoy's function at the crime scene."

We find on page 71, Mr Ferguson states:

"-Departmental investigation has revealed that officers' notes of Cst. Black and Cst. Roberts were disclosed to the Defense. Additionally, the full report of Cst. Roberts, the lead 'identification' investigator, was provided to the Defense. Further, Cst. Roberts' testimony at trial covered the investigative activities of the police at the crime scene during the time in question."

There has not been included an explanation about the notes for example, what is the sketch in the notes for. There is no mention of the foot print in the master bedroom, unless the diagram in the notes relates to the footprint. If this is so, then the footprint measured 11 ½ inches in length, making it longer than Derik's shoes.

In his explanation (from page 42 of his brief) of my submission into the equipment that was used Mr. Ferguson is correct. The Defense did receive some of the officers' notes. The notes were obviously not complete, as there is no mention of Cst. Roberts taking a video tape but mention was made of still photos. The Defense obviously did not receive a full report from Cst. Roberts as Mr. Ferguson discovered Cst. Roberts took a video tape that was not disclosed. If Defense had received full disclosure relating to the equipment used, we would not have had to wait for Mr. Ferguson's investigation to find out that a videotape had been made. We still do not know what other equipment was used. Referred to in Section 11 in the materials provided in the initial application against the conviction of Derik Lord. Obviously, Cst. Roberts testimony at trial was not complete either, since no mention was made of his video tape.

Mr. Ferguson's investigation was obviously more complete than the police would wish in that he discovered the Crown did not provide full disclosure. What other equipment and its purpose were the police successful in hiding from the Defense and Mr. Ferguson? Cst. Roberts explanation, on page 42, paragraph 3 "He said that it was not disclosed to the Defense because it was never considered as evidence." leads one to the next obvious question; What else did the police not consider evidence? Information or witnesses that didn't further the police view of the crime and suspects could fall into this same category.

On page 43, Mr. Ferguson stated:

"Departmental investigation has revealed that the videotape produced by Cst. Roberts and the photographs taken by Sgt. LeRoy were not provided to the Defense. The fact that Sgt. LeRoy took these photographs at the crime scene was disclosed to the Defense."

The fact is, the photographs were never disclosed to the Defense.

In summary, there was substantial non disclosure. There were police notes not disclosed. There was a video tape not disclosed. There were wiretapped phone calls and logs not disclosed. There were photographs not disclosed. These non disclosed items are evidence according to section 118 of the Criminal Code of Canada, thus the Crown is guilty of non disclosure of evidence, contrary to the law of full disclosure section 603 of the Criminal Code of Canada, section 650 (3) of the Criminal Code of Canada, section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 11 (d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is made clear again in the relevant case law such as Stinchcombe, Boucher, Arviv, and many others. (See a more complete listing at the end of our submissions)

Mr. Ferguson recounts the testimony of Amanda Cousins. He conveniently neglects the contradictions and the fact her story changes with each telling. He completely disregards the fact that Darren Huenemann was living in a fantasy world and most of what he told Miss Cousins was make believe. Mr. Ferguson completely ignores Dr. O'Shaughnessy's evaluation. (Tab 8, page 7, report dated November 8, 1993)

"It is my opinion that Darren Huenemann suffers from a severe form of narcissistic personality disorder in which, at various times, his capacity to differentiate reality from his own fantasy world is impaired."

Darren Huenemann and Amanda Cousins were in a play at school called "Caligula" in which a murderous ruler did gross acts of violence. Since Mr. Huenemann did not know fantasy from reality and since he and Miss Cousins had this violent play in common, it seems no one can put complete reliance on every word that Miss Cousins remembers. Mr. Ferguson forgave errors in dates, places, and time told to the various law enforcement agencies, but this same forgiveness did not apply to Dawn Lord's evidence even though her memory was from six years previously. How can any reliance be placed on what Miss Cousins said if it is told to her by a person who is not functioning in the real world?

Mr. Ferguson completely ignores the fact that Miss Cousins told of three completely different times that the boys were to have obtained the crowbars from Capital Iron. Twice after September 21, when the boys were to have first murdered the ladies. Referring to page 76, 77, and 78, of his brief:

"m) The police told Amanda Cousins about the crime scene and their theories."

Mr. Ferguson states:

"-Missing from the end of the above quoted passage taken from the preliminary hearing of Darren Huenemann was the following question and answer:

Q: They, being the police. Did they give the details of the crime?

A: No.

Miss Cousins said earlier in the same cross-examination:

Mr. Considine: During that twenty minutes, they told you various things, didn't they?

Amanda Cousins: Yes.

Q: And they told you what they believed had taken place, didn't they?

A: A little bit, yes."

This is further evidence of Mr. Ferguson's bias as he searched out a comment that did not support my allegation that the police fed Miss Cousins all the information. But it furthers my argument as to when is Miss Cousins telling the truth. She contradicted herself in less than a minute in the same cross examination.

Mr. Ferguson further states on page 4 of his brief that Amanda Cousins provided evidence from the planning stage through the execution of the plan to the devised alibi. Mr. Ferguson, knowing full well the psychological condition of Mr. Huenemann, says that Amanda Cousins was aware of the planning stage; how much of this was fantasy or derived from the school play, and how much of it was real? We suggest that most of it was fantasy because of the combination of the play and Mr. Huenemann's mental state. Mr. Ferguson found it convenient to forget about the testimony of Amanda Cousins that despite the fact of knowing all this information, she continued to date Mr. Huenemann and continued to have him as a friend. Mr. Ferguson states on page 6 that:

"Miss Cousins testified that she did not tell anyone about her conversations with Mr. Huenemann because he threatened to kill whomever she would have told. He often threatened to say he would stuff her, in the crawl space of the house that he was going to purchase. He also threatened that he would have her 'stuffed and mounted'. She testified that she believed the threats to be serious"

Since Ms. Cousins says she was threatened by Mr. Huenemann regularly, then why were none of these threats found on the wiretaps and why did she continue to date him?

As further evidence that the police fed Miss Cousins this information, all these kids grew up in a metric time. They grew up with metric from elementary school right through and yet Amanda Cousins said that David Muir told her that he put a one inch hole in Granny's head. Then she went out. This came form the police. How do we know this came from the police? In the month of November, 1990, two police officers attended at our house and gave us every single detail of the crime, including the fact that an 11 inch footprint was found, crowbars were used and a one inch hole was put in an individual's head.

A big deal was made in court of the fact that David Muir and Derik Lord said "Aye" and "Aye Commander" to Darren Huenemann, where in fact, in the psychological report by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, even Darren's mother and father catered to his fantasies by calling him "Imperial Person". (Page 5 August 31, 1992, report of Dr. O'Shaughnessy attached to Mr. Ferguson's brief) If the jury had known of this indulgence by even his parents, it could nave negated what the prosecutor told the jury about Darren Huenemann being the leader of a conspiracy to kill his mother and grandmother.

Another statement which makes Amanda Cousins story so unbelievable is that on September 21, 1990, when she became fully aware that Darren Huenemann had planned to murder his mother and grandmother, she went back to Darren Huenemann's, had tea, saw a movie, and went to a university show with two friends that night. Hardly a girl who was afraid of Mr. Huenemann or believed him.

Report to Crown Counsel page 31

"On December 4, 90 the writer and Sgt Tregear interviewed Sara Cousins, mother of Amanda Cousins, who provided a written statement. She states Darren constantly phoned to find out what was said when police spoke to Amanda. And tried to twist what was said and turn them against the police. Darren's lawyer, Chris Considine, also phoned her and told her not to talk to the police as they lie and use intimidating tactics. In essence it shows the lengths that Darren Huenemann went to try and prevent Amanda from telling police what she knew of Darren's involvement in the murders of his mother and grandmother by he and his lawyer trying to turn her against the police investigators and obstructing the police investigation."

If these phone calls were, in fact, made, then why were they not disclosed as part of the wiretap evidence? If these calls are as they were purported to be, then using them might have solidified the case that was eventually made. Again, without access to the entire tape logs, or the tapes, we are unable to assess the relative importance of these calls. However, if they do exist, then why didn't the Crown use them to back up both Sara Cousins' and Amanda Cousins' stories. We suspect they do not support either story or even exist, which throws further doubt on the Crown witnesses.

Mr. Ferguson found more new evidence, a wire tap with Dawn Lord in conversation with a friend. He confirmed this was never disclosed to the Defense. In this tape Ms. Dawn Lord says she saw Derik home at 8:30. In the draft brief, page 51,

"section 4, submission relating to new evidence unknown to Defense counsel at trial.

1. New alibi evidence provided by Applicant's sister."

"On March 7, 1996, Departmental counsel wrote to David Lord and asked why such potentially important information was not used at trial. In response David Lord stated that the fact that Dawn was a witness to Derik being home at 8:30 p.m. may have been overlooked when we were providing Mr. Firestone with all we could remember."

Further to that I have spoken to Mr. Ferguson and I also stated that we were sure we had informed Mr. Firestone of this information. Mr. Ferguson, it appears, is furthering his attempt to belittle this application by making it look as though we are trying to bring up information which should have been brought up at trial. What can not be forgotten is the fact that Mr. Ferguson discovered the wire tap evidence confirming Dawn Lord's word. Wire tap evidence that was not disclosed to the Defense.

Mr. Ferguson ridiculed Dawn Lord's testimony by stating "Dawn Lord was of the opinion that her brother had a curfew of 10:00 p.m. on the night in question. She was also of the opinion that her brother was arrested in October or November of, 1991, approximately a year after the LEATHERBARROW, HUENEMANN murders. The actual date of Derik Lord's arrest was November 27, 1990."

Dawn Lord did not say that Derik Lord was arrested a year after the murders, Mr. Ferguson did. Page 5 of the deposition of Dawn Lord, April 18, 1996, she stated when asked to remember, line 33 quote "And when was Derek arrested?" answer "I think it was sometime in '91. I can't remember the exact date.". Mr. Ferguson says Dawn stated that the murders happened on either a Wednesday or a Thursday night. "The murders were actually committed on a Friday." She did not state that the murders happened on a Wednesday or a Thursday night. If Mr. Ferguson had read the transcripts from his own interrogation of Dawn Lord, he would see that he had not changed the subject and that he is asking is what was the day that Derik was arrested, not the day of the murders. He had not indicated to Dawn that he had changed the topic back to the night of the murders.

Pages 5 and 6 of the transcript of Dawn Lord's deposition Mr. Ferguson goes from "And when was Derek arrested?" to Dawn's diary, page 6 line 37, "Why did you write it down at that stage?", back to the time of arrest, line 40, "So, do you remember what day of the week it was that this happened?". Mr. Ferguson continues:

" Dawn Lord stated under oath that she did not tell anybody about what she remembered on the evening of October 5, 1990, until about a week after the trial commenced. At that time, she told her mother, but she did not think that it was important. She thought her mother's testimony would have been good enough."

Julie McClung's statement informed us her sister had told Julie McClung that Dawn Lord was going around school telling everybody that her brother was home at 8:30 at night. One thing that Mr. Ferguson may not be aware of is that teenagers tend to treat talking to their friends, especially best friends, as if they had told no one. Telling no one means not telling an adult. Mr. Ferguson continues by saying, on page 52, " when asked if it was possible she was mistaken about the date and time in question, she responded : ' I don't know. Quite possibly, but I don't think so.' " Mr. Ferguson appears to give the indication that she does not know what she was talking about, but she confirms she does not think she made a mistake on the date or the time.

Mr. Ferguson's feelings become abundantly apparent in his references to Dawn Lord's deposition in that he tries to belittle her evidence at every move.

Mr. Ferguson continues to try and throw doubt on the Defense's time problems. On page 53, he states

"On November 20, 1990, Elouise Lord told Darren Huenemann in a wiretapped telephone conversation that she guessed that her son had arrived home at about 8:30 or 8:45 p.m. Mrs. Lord was not more precise because as she explained to Darren, 'You've asked me a question from a month, a month and a half ago.' And later in the telephone conversation, she said; 'I don't know what time it was though, it was close to 8:30.' Mrs. Lord went on to say that David Muir was already late getting home and Darren Huenemann drove him home from the Lord residence that evening."

In order for the police information to be even close to correct, that time had to be at least an hour out. Elouise was not an hour out; she was out by anywhere up to 15 minutes. Between 8:30 and 8:45. The ferry did not get in until after 9:01 p.m. as reported by the Ferry Corporation. Mr. Ferguson points out that David Muir had a curfew on October 5, 1990, of 9:00 p.m. and Elouise said in testimony that there was a bit of a hurry in getting David into the basement because Dave was late in getting home. If Dave had arrived at 8:45 at our home, he had 15 minutes to get home before his curfew was up. I guess he was in a hurry. David Muir lived approximately 10 to 15 minutes from our home by bike. Mr. Ferguson continues his bias on page 53 by stating:

" At no time during her testimony at the bail hearing or the trial of her son did Elouise Lord indicate that her daughter, Dawn Lord, was at home on the evening of October 5, 1990."

May it be pointed out to Mr. Ferguson that Elouise Lord was never asked who was home, or if her daughter was home, on October 5, 1990, at that time.

Again, on page 53, Mr. Ferguson goes on to say,

"When interviewed on October 16, 1990, Derik Lord originally told the police that he had first arrived at home at 9:30 on the evening of October 5, 1990."

May it be pointed out to Mr. Ferguson that this was a voluntary interview with the police, Derik did not have a watch, and he was estimating the time. He did not know the time. In actual fact, at his trial, he confirmed that he had asked his mother what time he had got home. He was told it was around 8:30, not 9:30. He had not asked his mother before he talked to the police.

This is the kind of twisting of testimony that was done by the police and continues to be done by Mr. Ferguson.

Page 54 of Mr. Ferguson's brief:

"At no time during his testimony at trial did Derik Lord state that his sister, Dawn Lord, was at home when he first arrived there on the evening of October 5, 1990. When asked about the circumstances of his arrival home, the Applicant testified as follows: 'Mr. Firestone: Take us through, witness, what you did when you got back to your residence in Saanich, Please.

Answer: We went back to my house, David and myself, and we went into the basement to get his bike out again.

Court: Just a minute.

Mr. Firestone: How did you get in, what route did you take, can you describe that to the jury. Thank you My Lord.

Answer: I go in the back door of the house, the back door is looked (sic) from inside, and unless you have a key, you can't get in.

Question: Did you see anyone when you went into the house?

Answer: Yes, I saw my mother.

Question: Was she home?

Answer: Yes, she was.'"

This indicates that Derik was never asked whether his sister was home. He responded to the questions he was asked, he did not volunteer any information. He may not even have seen his sister at home at the given time. His sister saw him, but that doesn't mean that he saw her. Not only that, his sister was home at that time of the night most nights, and it was not unusual, so it was not something he would have remembered and thought to be important at that time anyway.

On page 54, again of Mr. Ferguson's brief:

"In cross examination, the Applicant testified that on September 21, 1990, he and David Muir had arrived at the Lord residence from a visit to Tsawwassen at 9:30 p.m. On that occasion, he testified that both his mother and sister were at home.

Question: When you got home on that day, on the 21^st, who was home?

Answer: My mother and my sister.

Question: You remember that?

Answer: Yes, I do."

What is the significance that Mr. Ferguson puts in the fact that on September the 21^st, Derik got home later and was in the house for a longer period of time and saw his sister, but on October the 5^th, he was only in the house for a few minutes. He testified to that. He went out immediately again with Darren Huenemann. He may not have seen his sister on October 5^th.

Mr. Ferguson goes on , page 55, to contradict himself.

"Julie McClung who testified that she saw Derik Lord on the 7:00 p.m. sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on October 5, 1990, indicates in her statement to the police that she learned from her sister that Dawn Lord had been saying that her brother was home at 8:30 that evening."

Dawn Lord's further testimony was confirmed by a wiretap that was never disclosed to the Defense. The wiretap was of a conversation on November 23, 1990, between Dawn and a friend.

"Dawn Lord in a telephone conversation with a friend on the evening of November 23, 1990, indicated that she was aware of David Muir changing his story to say he was in Vancouver on the night of the murders. She also stated that she did not know what time the boys got back, however, she then stated 'We saw them at 8:30 for a couple of minutes.' And then continued to say that she could not remember anything of that night. The tape log of all wiretap conversations, including the above noted conversation, were disclosed to the Defense."

This is an absolute untruth. Which can be confirmed by Susan Beach in a letter which she wrote to us following the interview. A copy of that letter is included in our supporting materials at TAB 1. Dawn herself confirms the fact that she did not see Derik for very much time during that part of the interview. And also, she confirmed in that same wiretap information that it was 8:30, despite what Mr. Ferguson states that she did not know what time the boys got back. She does state in it that it was 8:30 at night. The tape logs may have been disclosed to the Defense, but the tapes certainly were not.

To this date, we have not seen the entire tape logs, so we cannot confirm that these were disclosed. The logs are not in the disclosure materials presented by Mr. Ferguson as from the Defense files.

Page 55,

"Dawn Lord, in her sworn deposition, indicated that she had not told anyone about having seen Derik Lord on the night of the murders until sometime during her brother's trial. She disclosed her account to her mother and said to her mother, " If it's important, tell Mr. Firestone.' I don't know if she did or not. When asked if it was possible that she could be mistaken about the time and date in question, she replied, 'I don't know. Quite possibly, but I don't think so. Dawn Lord did not independently confirm the time in question, but relied on information provided by her mother"

Mr. Ferguson, in further complicating his explanation to this, has used the same quote "I don't know. Quite possibly, but I don't think so." in two different contexts. In this paragraph, he's provided exactly the same information he provided on page 52. It goes back to the old proposition that if you repeat something often enough it becomes true. Mr. Ferguson is trying to throw doubt on Dawn's testimony and deposition by quoting things twice that have no relationship. If a teacher wants to get an argument across or to get a point across to her students, she repeats it over and over again. Just as Mr. Ferguson has done in this report.

Mr. Ferguson has ultimately confirmed, with a wire tap conversation (Dawn Lord with a friend), Dawn Lord's sworn deposition with Mr. Ferguson on April 18, 1996, and Julie McClung's statement to police about her sister telling her Dawn Lord was telling people at school Derik Lord was home at 8:30, that Amanda Cousins is quite wrong about the time Derik Lord arrived home on October 5, 1990. This again attacks the credibility of Amanda Cousins with new evidence.

The issues surrounding the Judge and his comments, insertions, questioning of witnesses, etc. is much to strong an issue to leave to a mention or a paragraph. The issues in a much less serious case led to the granting of a new trial.

Peter Firestone, in a letter to Donald Martin, dealing with preparations for Appeal sent a copy of Regina v. Tudor, British Columbia Court of Appeal, 1990, which dealt with this issue. This material is found at TAB 7 supporting this response. Issue was taken with the inadequate instruction to the jury regarding admissibility of evidence relating to conspiracies. In it, Mr. Justice Hutcheon quotes the words of Mr. Justice Kelly in Regina v. Torbiak and Campbell, (1974), 18 C.C.C. (2d) 229 at 230:

The proper conduct of a trial Judge is circumscribed by two considerations. On the one hand his position is one of great power and prestige which gives his every word an especial significance. The position of established neutrality requires that the trial Judge should confine himself as much as possible to his own responsibilities and leave to counsel and members of the jury their respective functions. On the other hand his responsibility for the conduct of the trial may well require him to ask questions which ought to be asked and have not been asked on account of the failure of counsel, and so to compel him to interject himself into the examination of witnesses to a degree which he might not otherwise choose.

Since the limits of the allowable conduct are not absolute, but relative to the facts and circumstances of the particular trial within which they are to be observed, every alleged departure during a trial from the accepted standards of judicial conduct must be examined with respect to its effect on the fairness of the trial.

He goes on to say:

"And again, on the other line, it means - if his stuff is gone, or whatever, that's what it is.

THE COURT: Well, how did David Tudor know what you were talking about?

THE WITNESS: Well, I am just telling his to tell that to my son.

THE COURT: No; he said, apparently, he has gone to Ontario.

THE WITNESS: Yes. My son must have tell him, and he has gone to Ontario, apparently.

THE COURT: But, how did David Tudor know from this conversation that you were talking about Larch?

THE WITNESS: Because maybe my son was talking to him, since he - since we had made phone calls to Penang and to Singapore and all that, so I figured that's - that it's all in the package.

THE COURT: Well, I am just looking at this telephone conversation, and there is no reference to Larch anywhere, but Tudor seems to know who you are talking about.

The appellant also complained of the interventions in the cross-examination of Roger Larch but I have quoted sufficiently from the evidence of Tudor and George Normand to make the point that, on numerous times, the trial judge unwittingly took over the function of Crown counsel. In my view, this was to the serious detriment of the accused.

No doubt this experienced judge was activated by the best motives but the interest of fairness requires a new trial both on this ground and on the ground of the adequacy of the instruction to the jury.

Accordingly, I would set aside the convictions and order a new trial."

The Honourable Mr. Justice Carrothers concurred with this pronouncement.

In the case presented here for the Minister's review, the interventions by the trial judge were much more blatant, much more confusing to the jury, and much more frequent than in the above noted case. Thus, the Applicant is entitled to a new trial based on this gross miscarriage of justice alone. Even if this were the only grounds we had, it would appear that it would be enough. However, there is much, much more.

In R. v. Pavlukoff (1953), 106 C.C.C. 249 (B.C.C.A.) per O'Halloran J.A. at p. 266:

"It seems an absurdity for a Judge after telling the jury the facts are for them and not for him, then to volunteer his opinions of facts followed then or later by another caution to the jury that his own opinion cannot govern them and ought not to influence them. If his opinion ought not to govern or influence the jury then why give his opinion to the jury."

1. v. Post and Gelfand, unreported, Feb. 24, 1972 (Que. C.A.) per Turgeon J.A.:

Based on these cases alone, the simple fact that the judge placed himself in the position of prosecutor for some questioning of witnesses is enough to prejudice the jury in the way they will consider the evidence adduced. His mere importance suffices to impress upon the jury that if he is asking these questions, or providing these answers as he occasionally did, that the facts, evidence, or statements produced then must be really important and of course true. Mr. Justice Fisher did not even warn the jury not to use his opinions in forming their verdict.

460

ROBERTS, DAVID (for Crown)

in chief by Ms. MacLean

Jury In

1 A Yes.

2 Q Did you go inside of the residence?

3 A Yes, I did. That was at 0354.

4 Q And how did you gain entry?

5 A I entered the residence by going through a sliding patio

6 window at the rear of the premises on the southern side.

7 I found it to be --

8 THE COURT: A window or a door?

9 A It is a door, My Lord. Patio door.

10 THE COURT: A glass patio door?

11 A Yes, My Lord.

12 THE COURT: Which serves as a window but functions as a door,

13 to be called a sliding patio door?

14 A Succinctly put, My Lord.

15 THE COURT: Thank you. Let's carry on.

462