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Film director seeks audio from Oland trials

The sound of Dennis Oland's voice proclaiming his innocence may become part of a national television broadcast if a Vancouver film director has her way.

Deborah Wainwright and Seven Knots Media Inc. are applying to the Court of Queen's Bench to use audio recordings from Oland's two murder trials in a documentary film. The material includes Oland's own testimony denying he murdered his father Richard Oland.

New Brunswick courts don't normally allow the broadcast of audio recordings of trials, even after the fact.

Wainwright, a veteran film director, is arguing that using the audio will ensure testimony in the trial is presented "as accurately as possible in the broadcast" in her documentary.

Roger Cosman/CBC
Roger Cosman/CBC

"I am very concerned that, even the most gifted actor, reading a transcript, cannot convey words previously spoken with exactly the same inflection, nuance, emphasis, etc., given by the original speaker of the words concerned," she says in an affidavit.

She also argues her request is consistent with the principle of open courts and will let the audience better understand the trial, its evidence and its arguments.

Oland and the provincial attorney-general are both respondents in the application. The province has not filed a response.

Lawyers "are still reviewing the legal issues regarding this request in order to make an appropriate decision in this matter," said spokesperson Robert Duguay.

Wainwright says in her affidavit that Oland's defence lawyers told her in an email they don't object, though one of them, Allan Gold, says in the email he does not want her to use Oland's reaction to the guilty verdict in the first trial. He says Wainwright has agreed.

Oland was convicted of the murder of his father, businessman Richard Oland, in a jury trial in 2015. That verdict was overturned on appeal and Oland was acquitted last month in his second trial by Justice Terrence Morrison.

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Canadian Yachting Association

Wainwright's lawyer, David Coles, said she would not comment on the case. It will be heard in court Oct. 10.

The only recording of Dennis Oland heard in public is his videotaped interview with police, which became part of the public trial record when it was played in court.

Why trials aren't broadcast

Media lawyer David Hutt says that traditionally, Canadian courts have not allowed the broadcast of trials because of fears it would affect testimony.

"One if the concerns is that if people are aware that what they say is being recorded and will possibly end up in the media — they could end up a YouTube star or something like that — that may affect how they give their evidence," he said.

But he says there's also an argument for making the process as transparent as possible.

"From a judge's perspective, there's something attractive about making sure the public has all the facts and has the whole story and understands how the laws are being enforced in Canada," he said.

Hutt says if Wainwright wins, it could prompt more requests to broadcast court recordings and may even lead to it becoming routine.

Journalists are normally allowed to record court proceedings in New Brunswick, but only to supplement their handwritten notes for accuracy. The recordings can't be broadcast.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has allowed the livestream of a handful of high-profile hearings on issues such as abortion and language rights.

Media organizations were allowed to use audio and video from those livestreams in their reports.

Audio wanted from 13 witnesses

Wainwright's filing includes a long list of audio excerpts she wants from both trials. It includes testimony from 13 witnesses, including Oland, former Saint John deputy police chief Glenn McClosky and Diana Sedlacek, who was in a relationship with Richard Oland.

Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press
Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press

The list also includes opening and closing arguments by the lawyers and the reading of both verdicts by both judges.

Hutt says Wainwright's argument that the actual recording will convey more than an actor reading the transcript could ring true with judges, who are familiar with both courtroom testimony and transcripts they review later.

"People convey a lot with their body language, the nuance in how they say things, and emphasis," he said. "Everyone's who's ever read a transcript of an interview knows the interview itself conveys more information."

Wainwright's company, Seven Knots Media Inc., is pitching the documentary as a four-episode series with the tentative title "The Trials of Dennis Oland."

In an overview of the project filed with the court, she says the story of the Oland case involves "fame, fortune, and infidelity … gossip, big business, media frenzy, a police force under fire, and the allure of patricide."

But she says the saga also offers "a veritable law school exam question at every turn," arguing it will explore legal issues such as the difference between judge-alone and jury trials and the "challenge for cause" process in jury selection.