Law 12Policing and ArrestMs. Ripley
R. v. Dhillon (2001), B.C.C.A. 555 (Law in Action, Blair p199)
On April 14, 1977, Carolyn Lee, aged 12, disappeared while walking the four blocks between her afternoon dance class and her family's restaurant in Port Alberni, British Columbia. Her family began looking for her immediately, and at about 8:30 p.m. her father called the RCMP to report her missing. Her body was found the next day by a local farmer on his property near Cox Lake Forensic evidence established that Carolyn had been sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death.
The farmer said that his attention was drawn to the area when he noticed tire tracks not normally seen at a fork in the road about 100 metres from where the body was found. The terrain at the fork was muddy, but there was no slippage or backing up evident from the tire tracks, which led the farmer to believe the tracks had been made by a light-duty, four-wheel-drive vehicle. The front and rear tire tracks were clearly visible, and they continued sporadically all the way from the fork to where the body was found. Photographs and drawings were made of one clear impression. A local storeowner compared the tread pattern and size of the markings with actual tire stock in his store. He concluded the impressions had been made by Seiberling 700/15 heavy lug tires.
Ten days after Carolyn's body was found, the RCMP discovered that Dhillon, a local foundry worker, owned a 1977 Blazer with four Seiberling lug tires. Dhillon and his wife both admitted to police that he had washed and vacuumed his vehicle as soon as he arrived home the night Carolyn disappeared. On the victim's jacket, the police had found a partial shoe print made by a boot that could have been similar to the type Dhillon wore at the foundry.
When police interrogated Dhillon, he produced an alibi. He said he was at a bar at the time the girl disappeared and then went home for dinner. A lie detector test seemed to substantiate his alibi. Witnesses gave conflicting statements about Dhillon's whereabouts on the evening in question. The police felt there was insufficient evidence to lay a criminal charge against him.
Semen taken from the victim's body in 1977 remained available, and thanks to advances in scientific technology, it was used for DNA testing. Forensic scientists matched the DNA in the seminal fluid to DNA in Dhillon's blood. On March 13, 1997, 20 years after Carolyn Lee's body was found, the police charged Dhillon with first-degree murder. After a month-long trial, a jury convicted him, and the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. In 2001, Dhillon's appeal to the British Columbia Court of Appeal was dismissed.
- Were the tire and shoe impressions representative of class or individual characteristics? Explain.
- List the other types of evidence collected.
- Why were the tire impressions and the shoe print so useful in the investigation?
- Why was the evidence insufficient to lay charges until the DNA match was made 20 years later?
Forensic Test Dashes Hopes (Law in Action, Blair,p.201)
A damning DNA test result has exploded the hopes of a murderer many believed would be declared Canada's most recent victim of a wrongful conviction, Roy Kenshin Lee.
Using a sophisticated DNA-analysis technique, England's Forensic Science Service determined that two hairs on the body of murder victim Robert Borden quite possibly came from Mr. Lee. Mr. Borden, a blustery nightclub bouncer in Niagara Falls, Ontario, was murdered on April 27, 1987. A shadowy figure burst into his bedroom and plunged a sword into Mr. Borden's head and midriff.
"My position is that we are now left at a dead end in terms of proving Mr. Lee's innocence," James Lockyer, a Toronto lawyer and a key figure in the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, said. "Unless something fresh comes up, there is nothing further that can be done on this case."
The English laboratory determined one person in a hundred possesses hair matching the DNA profile of the hairs found near the victim. Mr. Lee is among them. Mr. Lockyer said the result doesn't prove the hairs belong to Mr. Lee, only that he is among the 1 percent whose hair matches the two sample hairs.
The $13 000 price tag for the tests was financed by Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney-General, the first time it has paid for this sort of testing abroad to determine the soundness of a conviction. Crown prosecutors Carol Brewer and Shawn Porter said yesterday that if the results had favoured Mr. Lee, they would have allowed him to revive his defunct appeal to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear his case.
Ms. Brewer said Mr. Lee's conviction was based largely on testimony of a controversial witness who claimed to have heard him confess, which made it especially important that the hairs-the only physical evidence in the case-be properly tested. Mr. Porter stated that should Mr. Lee take any further action to overturn his conviction, the Crown will be at liberty to use the DNA results against him.
SOURCE: Kirk Makin, "Forensic test dashes hopes of prisoner," The Globe and Mail, July 21, 2001, p. A9.
- Briefly describe the two types of evidence in Lee's case. Which is the more important of the two? Why?
- Explain the role that forensic scientists played in this case.
- Lee is among the 1 percent whose hair matches the sample. Do you think this fact is sufficient to confirm his guilt? Why or why not?