Defence, witness lock horns

Frast paae 1

Bellows’ next witness,
Deirdre Fitz-Gibbons, a juror
with Guess at the 1995 murder
tial, echoed Hayes’ starements.

“She'd (Guess) do what I
called the ‘grand entrance’
whenever we entered the
courtroom,” — Fitz-Gibbens
recalled. “She'd stop short just
before entering the room, I'd
almost trip over her. Then
she’d put on a big smile and
enter the room ... (this hap-
pened) almost everyday.”

Fitz-Gibbons desenbed che
acrimonious relationship she
had with Guess during. their
jury duty. She said she realized
after only four days into the
Dosanjh trial that she didn’t
like Guess.

“By day four, I didn’t tike
her,” Fitz-Gibbons said. “1 felt
she couldn’t be trusted ... she
tried to undermine my credibil-
ity if T didn’t agree with her on
an issue, that’s when the dumb
blonde comments started up.”

The court also heard of a
“game of chicken” between
Guess and Gill's wife outside
the courthouse.

“She (Guess) came in after
lunch and told us (the jury) she
saw Peter Gill’s wite on the
street,” Firz-Gibbons said. “It
sounded like they were playing
a game of chicken as. they
walked towards one another,
you know, to sce who would
move out of the way first ... she
(Guess) acted as if it were
funny.”

When Bellows asked Fitz-

Gibbons if she understood the .

rules regarding a juror interact-
ing with the defendant during a
trial, she said she did.

“There was to be ov inter-
action at all (with the accused
men),” she remarked. “It's
common scnse, as a juror, you
do not talk or interact with the
defendant.”

- Prior to Fitz-Gibbons giv-
ing her testimony, Ritchie
asked Justice Raymond Paris to
inform the six former jurors
scheduled to testify in the case
that they are legally allowed to
talk with him before appearing

Maximize Your

on the stand,

After conterinag with the
Crown, only pvo of the six
jurors agreed to be interviewed
by Ritchie.

He pleaded to Paris that, as
a result, the defence council is
at an “institutional disadvan-
tage” in the case.

“My friend (Bellows) only
calls six jurofs, and I can’t speak
to them before they give evi-
dence ... these jurors expressed
great reluctance in speaking to
the defence,” Ritchie.

Ritchie further argued that
the present jury may be con-
fused as to why a former juror
can openly discuss her delibers-
tions from the previous trial.

“If we ever had a jury in this
land understanding what they
should be doing, it’s the jury in
this room,” Ritchie said. “They
may be muddled where we are
here {in the qial’s proceed-
ings). 1 hope youll (Justice
Paris) clarify this to them.”

Despite Ritchie's argu-
ments, Justice Paris said he
would not offer legal advice to
a witness on the stand.

“I certainly think it would

not be tight for the court to

give direction to a witness,”
Paris said. “It’s absolutely

unprecedented; it’s pot the
place of the court to volunteer
legal advice to a witness .. to
raise this issuc, would appear to
be a suggestion by me to (awit
ness) ie speak to the detence
councik that would be very
dangerous and quite inappro-
priate.”

Firz-Gibbons offered her
insight on why she wouldn’r
speak to Ritchie prior to testify:
ing.

“Twas advised chat I could
speak to you (Ritchie) if I want-
ed to, it was my choice,” she
said. “I didn’t want to speak to
you because 1 wasn’t happy
with the verdict (in the 1995
murder trial).”

For the first Gme since the
trial began, Ritchie appeared to
be struggling. During his cross-
examination of Fitz-Gibbons,
he kept the former juror on the
stand for well over nwo hours.
At times, Fitz-Gibbons sound-
ed frustrated when answering
Rirchie’s questions.

Fitz-Gibbons’ obvious dis-
like for Guess overshadowed
Ritchie’s attempts to find a
weak spot in her testimony.
When discussing some of the
technical evidence heare during
the Dosanjh trial, Ritchie asked

her if she used her technica!
backyround (Fitz-Gibbons has
a Bachelor of Science degree}
to Cunderstand the evidence.”
“H vou're trying to get me
tr tell you Pmade up my mind

fon the guilt or innocence of

the accused) before all the evi-
dence was heard, I didn’t,” she
snapped.

Fitz-Gibbons told the court
the began wearing a Walkman
in the jury’s room, so she
wouldn't have tw listen to
Guess

“Ian dislike someone, and
still listen to them.” she said.
“If you agreed with her (on an
issuc), vou were fine, f you
didn’t, God help you ... she’s
antagonistic, we were a pre-
dominantdy white jury, judging
evidence on non-white individ-
uals. A number of times during
the trial she suggested we were
racist ... the defence raised thar
point as a parallel to the O.].
Simpson tial which was going
on at the same time.”

The trial of Gillian Gites is
believed to be the first of its
kind in North America, and the
Commonwealth. The case will
hear from five more jurors
about the events uit took
place inside the jury’s room.

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