Cross-examination set to focus on brown jacket at Oland murder trial

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The cross-examination of a Saint John police forensics officer responsible for examining the Crown’s key piece of physical evidence is set to open the Dennis Oland murder trial on Wednesday.

Const. David MacDonald was responsible for examining a Hugo Boss sports jacket seized from Oland’s Rothesay, N.B., home one week after the battered body of his father, Richard Oland, was found at the older man’s Canterbury Street office on July 6, 2011.

On Tuesday, MacDonald testified that the jacket was one of many items, including several shirts and pairs of shoes, taken from the residence under a search warrant.

The court was also told that then-lead investigator Rick Russell touched the jacket with his bare hand before MacDonald seized the jacket wearing gloves.

The Crown has said the jacket contains four spots of blood with the deceased man’s DNA.

Richard, 69, was a prominent businessman and multi-millionaire when he was killed in his Saint John office. He was struck more than 40 times, mostly on the head, with a weapon that was never found.

This is the second trial for Dennis. His 2015 conviction for second-degree murder was set aside on appeal, and a new trial was ordered.

—With files from the Canadian Press

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