Crown closes case in Melvin murder trial
The prosecution rested its case Thursday in Jimmy Melvin Jr.'s first-degree murder trial after a Halifax courtroom heard from two final Crown witnesses.
Defence lawyer Patrick MacEwen told Justice Jamie Campbell and the 13-member jury that the defence will decide over the weekend whether Melvin will call witnesses.
Melvin is on trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, accused of shooting Terry Marriott Jr. to death while he napped on a couch in a Harrietsfield, N.S., home on Feb. 20, 2009.
Melvin's shoe size
The last of the Crown's evidence centred on Melvin's shoe size, and two gloves and a helmet seized from the murder scene.
One of the witnesses, Dawn Chisholm, an institutional service officer at Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B., testified that she issued Melvin Size 12 shoes twice while he was an inmate there. Chisholm issues inmates clothing, hygiene items and bedding.
Last week, Det. Const. James Wasson, a forensic identification specialist with Halifax Regional Police, testified about footwear impressions found in the yard of the home where Marriott was killed.
Wasson photographed footwear impressions in the snow that went from a shed at the back of the property to the rear left of a truck parked in the driveway leading toward the house.
Some impressions lost in snow
He made a mould of one of the footprint impressions. After sending some of the images to the RCMP centre that studies shoe prints and checking at a local sports store, Wasson concluded that the footprints had been left by someone who wore a size 12 Adidas Superstar 2 sneaker.
Wasson said he had received information that Melvin wore a Size 12 but at the same time he never had Melvin's footwear to compare it to.
"I can't say that the suspect was wearing Adidas," he said.
Blood stains found on glove
The Crown's last witness called Thursday, Curtis Pyke, a retired Halifax Regional Police crime scene investigator, was the file co-ordinator in the Marriott murder investigation.
Pyke looked at two gloves and a helmet seized from the murder scene under a white light to see whether there were any blood stains.
The helmet and one of the gloves came back as negative for blood, he said. The second glove that was found on the basement floor had three stains on the back side.
All three items were then sent to the RCMP crime lab for to be analyzed for DNA and blood. Pyke was not allowed to speak about the contents of the RCMP lab report because he didn't author it.
Only two people know what happened
The Crown's case relies heavily on the evidence of its star witness, Derek MacPhee.
In her opening address, Crown attorney Christine Driscoll said only two people know exactly what happened the day Marriott was shot to death — Melvin and MacPhee.
MacPhee, a career criminal and paid police informant, has testified that he drove Melvin to and from the murder scene on his four-wheeler. MacPhee said he heard five loud bangs after Melvin went inside the home. He said both men went there armed with guns.
Melvin was not charged until July 2015, after MacPhee told police Melvin was the alleged shooter.
Marriott's blood was found on MacPhee's jeans. Gunshot residue was also found on MacPhee's hands and face.
MacPhee agreed to testify against Melvin as part of an immunity deal.
