Howard Richmond murder trial jury begins deliberations
A jury of 12 started deliberations Wednesday afternoon on whether Canadian solider Howard Richmond is criminally responsible for stabbing his wife to death.
Defence lawyer Joe Addelman told the jury during closing arguments on Tuesday that Richmond became "a broken man with a broken mind" following six tours of duty that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Crown prosecutor Suzanne Schriek argued that 53-year-old Howard Richmond found out that 28-year-old Melissa Richmond was having an affair and consciously killed her out of jealously.
Richmond admitted to stabbing his wife to death in a ravine near South Keys Shopping Centre in July 2013 but pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder at the outset of his trial in September.
Justice Douglas Rutherford instructed the jury of four men and eight women that if they believe Richmond's mental disorder "robbed him" of understanding the nature and quality his actions it means he is not criminally responsible and their deliberations end there.
If the jury determines he is criminally responsible, they can find him guilty of either first- or second-degree murder. The jury could also find him guilty of manslaughter if they determine he did not intend to kill his wife.
Mental health experts clash
Mental health experts for the defence and the Crown clashed over the soldier's diagnosis during the course of the trial.
Forensic psychologist Charles Ewing testified it took Richmond nine months to realize in a gradual unraveling of memories that he killed his wife because he was suffering from traumatic amnesia.
Richmond testified he hid in the bushes with a knife and screwdriver that were meant to help him cut off his wife's clothes during a consensual sex role-playing game they planned together as a couple. He said a loud noise triggered a flashback of his military tour in Croatia, where he witness an 11-year-old girl being executed.
Ewing testified that Richmond experienced a dissociative flashback before the killing but psychiatrist Derek Pallandi challenged the notion that a loud sound could prompt "homicidal behaviour."
Pallandi suggested that the smell of Melissa's blood could have prompted a flashback after the killing but said that Howard was not "psychologically absent" because he recalled details of the actual killing.
Husband denies knowledge of affair
Melissa Richmond's lover testified that she worried her husband would kill her if he found out about the affair.
Jeff Thornton said that "she wasn't joking" when she told him her body would never be found if her husband learned she was cheating. He also said she planned to leave her husband days before she was killed.
Howard Richmond testified during the trial that he didn't find out about the affair until after he killed his wife.
When confronted with the affair during a police interview in the days following her death, Richmond repeatedly denied that he killed her.
"No act justifies that kind of violence," he told police.
Soldier researched PTSD
An Ontario Provincial Police computer forensic analyst testified that Richmond researched PTSD in seven separate online queries hours after he killed his wife, including one search about flashback recovery.
Court also heard that Richmond posted about "voices" in his head on Facebook after the killing.
Richmond reported his wife was missing on July 25, 2013, saying she went for a late-night drive on July 24 and never returned to their home in Winchester, Ont., located about 40 kilometres south of the shopping centre where her body was eventually found on July 28.
Police found a knife and a screwdriver wrapped in bloody clothes in the basement of the Richmonds' home. The bundle was wedged between the ceiling rafters and the furnace duct in the basement.
Schriek argued he was "conscious of his guilt" when he hid the weapons.
But Addelman argued "his mental disorder robbed him of the ability to appreciate the nature and quality of his actions."
