HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1966-12-01, Page 4'The
ocio igh' Signal tat', T iu =day, December 1, 1966
Contradiction, Drama Mark Steven Truscott's Appeal
OTTAWA — Steven Truscott will
not be home for Christmas.
His parents hadhoped thattheir
21 .year-old son would be with
them at Christmas for the first
time in eight years,
However, last week the Su-
preme Court of Canada _post.
poned until late January the final
arguments of lawyers involved in
Truscott's' appeal of his 1959 con.
victim of murdering Lynne Harp.
er, 12, near Clinton,
The court extended the deadline
for submission of final written
arguments by counsel from Dec. •
1 to Dec. 14. , '
The court normally rises =about
Dec. 20 and would not come back
until Jap, 24 to open the new
winter session. -.410
ft would norbe possible to hear
final oral argument until January
because after the Dec. 14 deadline
for written argument the court
must have time to study the lat-
,,ter. Also, Crown and defence
counsel customarily exchange
their written arguments so they
can prepare their cases at. the
final hearing.
Th—final hearing in January
is expected to take two days.
The court likely will require
more time after that to arrive
at its decision.
Hearing the parade of yitness.
es during the review in early
"October was without precedent
for the .court. Ordinarily it con.
finesis
i oif tQ reviewing evidence
actually presented at theoriginal
trial.
In m . y other ways the hearing
was milany other by the high
court.
Spectators` jammed the public
benches in the small courtroom in
contrast .ta the few persons who
ever bother to see thecourt while
it is in regular session.
Reporters left the press tables
at regular short intervals to tele-
phone almost word.for.word acc.
oun,ts of the five day hearing.
For. most, it was their first visit
to the Wellington Street building,
There was high drama, a touch
of Perry Mason and even a few
laughs.
Truscott supplied most of the
drama with hist appearance in
the witness box,proclaiming his
innocence for the first time under
oath►. Only 14 when charged with
the murder, he didnot testify at
his 1959 trial:
In the courtroom as a tele-
vision reporter—se couldn't be
assured of 'a seat otherwise-.
was Mrs. Isabel LeBourdais of
Toronto. -Her best-selling book,
The Trial of Steven Truscott.
casting doubts on the conviction,
sparked the review.
Two of the three possible opin-
ions the court could render would
favor - Truscdtt-a new trial , or
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Public Meeting of all people interested in the future
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in the Union" Room at
acquittal. The third would be to
recommend tha t the conviction
be upheld. d
The Perry 1Vlason touches were
evident on both sides.
Crown witness Elgin Brown of
Toronto ripped the blouse off a
strawberryiblonde to demonstr-
ate how the killer strangled his
victim, Ile then cut the blouse
with scissors, to demonstrate how
a piece of it probably became lost
in the autopsy room.
Defence counsel G. Arthur
Martin brought three private de.
tectives to the box to tell of
tests they made to back the
defence story at the trial. The
Crown doubted Truscott's story
that he was able to pick out
features and a yellow licence
plate or marker of a 1959 Chew
rolet car from a bridge 1, 300 feet
away.
The 'detectives said they stood
on the same spot and had little
trouble picking out colours of
licence plates.
Along press row, the hearing
was dubbed "the battle of the
pathologists,"
Outstanding medical men from
Toronto, New York, Cleveland,
Baltimore and London, England,
took poles -apart views of whether
time of death can be accurately
pinpointed by examination of the
victim's stomach,
This was a vital ioint at the
trial, Using this method, the
Crown placed Truscott with .the
girl about the time of her death
by testimony that she had eaten
her last ipeal less thantwohours
before she was slain.
Pathologists called by the
Crown agreed with this method,
Pathologists called by the de.
fence said such evidence was
guess -work and unrealiable, and
dangerous since it could put p0.
lice o n ° a wild goose chase.
Testimony of the 26 witnesses
could be broken into five main
parts and directed at answering
five points in dispute. They are;
1. Was Lynne Harper slain
between 7:15 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.
June 9, 1959, about two hours
after her last -known meal?
2.Was she killed in the bush
where her partially -nude body
was found by an RCAF search
party June 11, 1959, or had the
bog beers' dragged the ?
33. Were sores on Truscott's
penis caused by actual or at.
tempted sexual intercourse with
the young girl?
4. Could Truscott see the girl
hitch .a ride in a car bearing
yellow licence plates from a vant.
age point on the bridge 1,300 feet
away as he said he did?: •
5.,, Was Truscott a nor- mal heal-
thly'14-year-old or was he having
mental»problems.
In coming to its decision, the
Teen Club '67
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court will consider evidence giv.
en at the first trial and the ar-
guments to be made by the law-
yers in Decernbe r as well as
the new evidence brought out in
October dirough the questioning
of Mr. Martin for ,the defence'
and Donald Scott for the Crown.
Here in brief is t\what the key
witnesses told the court:
John Funk, a biochemist with
the attorney -general's office who
examined contents of the victim's
stomach in 1959, said they re.
sembled a thick stew. Pieces of
food he saw were compatible with
the last -known meal of Lynne
Harper. But under.cross-examin-
ation he said he found no trace
of brown -skin turkey meat which
the girl's father said she had
eaten.
Dr. Nobel Sharp, a patholo-
gist with the attorney -general's
office; said his 1959 examination
of stomach contents indicated
they had been there about two
hours. Ile agreed with defence
counsel that many factors could
affect the sate at which the stom•
ach is emptied and cited fear,
anger or other emotions. He also
said under cross-examination
that he had written an article
for a •medical magazine which
said determining time of death
by stomach contents is of value
to police but of little value in a
court.
Elgin Brown, `a biologist with
t4 the attorney -general's office, who
caused a stir with the blouse -
ripping demonstration testified
that bed sheets and blankets seiz-
ed from Truscott's bed contained
no hairs or particles .of, the
victim. Nor had an examination
of the victim's clothing shown
any of .
Detectivetraces • SergeantTruscottD, J.
Alsop
of the Ontario Provincial Police
West Wawanosh
VOTE FOR EXPERIENCE
LORNE DURNIN
FOR REEVE
10 Years On Council
2 Years As Reeye
Wednesday, Dec..7
At
7:30 P.M.
This meeting is sponsored by Goderich Trotting
and Agricultural'Associaton.
Hugh Hill, Secretary
Lyle Bannister, President
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introduced a series of photo.
graphs taken where the body, was
found, The Crown hoped to show
that a footprint at the scene could
have been made by Truscott but,
the def ce won an admission
that the •ictures had not been
taken pr give aurate
compares ns.erly Sgtto. Alsopalsoccsaid
Con inued on page 5
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