Lawyers in the murder trial of Allan Potter will present their closing remarks to the jury Monday, wrapping up nearly a month of testimony from almost three dozen witnesses in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John's. As the jurors head into deliberations, here's a wrap-up of the trial:
THE FACTS: Allan Potter has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He's accused of killing Dale Porter in Porter's North River, Conception Bay North, driveway in the early morning of June 29, 2014, by stabbing him almost 20 times. Porter died shortly after arriving by ambulance at the hospital in Carbonear.
THE PEOPLE: Allan Potter, 55. Potter has told the court his family is from Samson's Island, Notre Dame Bay, and he grew up in Ontario. He has said he's a full-patch member of the Vikings Motorcycle Club. Potter was arrested and charged with murder on Sept. 26, 2016, outside a hotel in London, Ont., after an elaborate undercover RCMP investigation. He has been in custody ever since. Potter has a co-accused: a man who has also been charged with first-degree murder, and who cannot be named at this point by order of the court.
Dale Porter, 39. Porter was a crab and shrimp fisherman who drove a truck in the off-season. He was also a father of two children, who were 14 and nine at the time he was killed. Porter's sister has described him as a family man who never missed Sunday dinner at their mother's home.
Sheldon Steeves and Erin Matthews: Crown prosecutors, who allege Potter and the second man had been socializing with Porter in a Bay Roberts bar the evening before he died, along with the second man's girlfriend. Potter and his friend felt Porter was being disrespectful to the Vikings and had made an "indecent proposal" to the woman, they allege. They say Potter and the other man "buddied up" to Porter in an effort to win his trust, then, after having taken a cab to Porter's house, Potter stabbed him in the driveway before the two men left.
Randy Piercey and Jon Noonan: Defence lawyers, who allege, through questioning Potter on the witness stand, that Potter acted in self-defence when he stabbed Porter.
Justice Garrett Handrigan: Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge, overseeing the trial.
The jury: Fourteen jurors took their places at the start of the trial, instead of the usual 12 — a decision the judge said was made in the interest of justice. One juror was recently dismissed. Another will be selected at random and dismissed before the jury is sequestered to deliberate.
THE EVIDENCE: Steeves and Matthews submitted a significant number of items as exhibits during the trial, including photos and video from the outside and inside of Porter's residence; a knife that was located in a roadside brook in Cupids, not far from the Vikings clubhouse; Potter's leather Vikings vest, seized from the clubhouse, as well as a gray hoodie he was wearing when he was arrested, questioned and released in the days following Porter's death; photos taken during Porter's autopsy; audio recordings of conversations with Potter provided by police agents and undercover RCMP officers; and video footage of Potter interacting with an undercover police officer.
THE WITNESSES: The Crown called 33 witnesses to testify; the defence called one.
Among them: The co-accused's girlfriend. The woman, 46, was granted a publication ban on her name. She told the court she has a family connection to the Vikings, and had been seeing the second man at the time Porter was killed. She had been socializing with her boyfriend and Potter at the Vikings clubhouse before heading to the bar, then took a cab with the two men and Porter to Porter's residence at the end of the night. She said she decided to go home, asking the cab to take her there after dropping the men off in Porter's driveway. She said she later received a call from her boyfriend, asking her to ask the cabbie to turn around and pick him up. She told the court the cab picked her boyfriend and the other man up on the road, then drove them all back to the clubhouse. Potter drove away on his motorcycle, she said, while she and the second man walked to her place.
Three of Porter's friends: The three men were also granted publication bans on their names. They had been at Porter's residence with him earlier in the night, and had taken a cab to the bar with him. The plan was to meet Porter back at his house after they left the bar, they each testified. When they arrived, they found him lying injured in his driveway and called for police and an ambulance.
Florence Celestin, DNA specialist with the RCMP's national forensic crime lab: Celestin presented the results of DNA testing on a number of objects sent to the lab by local police. The hoodie Potter had been wearing when he was questioned was found to contain specks of what appeared to be blood; Celestin said the specks tested positive for Porter's DNA. Porter's DNA was also found — as was the DNA of an unidentified man — in stains inside a taxi van. The knife contained no DNA, she said (and the court heard it also contained no fingerprints). Swabs of the leather vest tested positive for Potter's DNA, as well as a mix of Potter's DNA with that of an unidentified male.
Reg Earle, an acquaintance of Porter: Earle said he had been chatting with Porter in the washroom of the bar, when two men — one big, one small — came in and started arguing with him. Earle said he heard the two men say to Porter, "You owes me this, you owes me that," before they told each other, "I'll make away with you."
Dr. Nash Denic, medical examiner: Denic, who conducted Porter's autopsy, told the court Porter had received 17 stab wounds, four slash wounds and a number of blunt force trauma injuries, and had died due to blood loss. His jugular vein had been severed, Denic said, and at least two of Porter's other injuries were life-threatening as well. He also had defence wounds on his hands and arms. Denic said the weapon was likely a single-edged knife. Evidence of cocaine, tobacco and alcohol were found in Porter's blood.
Two Vikings-turned-police agents: Two members of the Vikings were secretly working as paid agents for police, gathering information about Potter in particular. One of the men told the court he had witnessed Vikings president Shane Leonard throw a black-handled knife he recognized as Potter's into the ocean near Cape Spear. An admitted drug dealer, he said he was terminated as an agent after he failed to follow directions. The other agent, who often wore a hidden recording device during his conversations with Potter, was responsible for introducing Potter to an undercover RCMP officer posing as the owner of a debt collection service. He told Potter he had started working for the man and had been making a lot of money.
"Mr. Big": As part of an operation to gain Potter's trust and attempt to get him to open up about his involvement in Porter's death, this undercover RCMP officer played the role of a man with a debt collection service looking to hire Potter. Having visited Potter a couple of times in an Ontario prison, he met with him the day of his release and introduced him to two associates, who were also undercover Mounties. The officers enacted a planned scenario in which they told Potter one of them had killed a man who had failed to pay his debts, and they needed to move the body. Potter agreed to help them move the body — which was actually a dead pig wrapped in sheets and stuffed in a hockey bag — to a cemetery and bury it in a fresh grave. The officer told the court Potter had confessed to him that he had killed Porter, but the hidden recording device he had been wearing had failed to record the conversation.
Allan Potter: Potter was the last witness to testify. He told the court he stabbed Porter, but he did it in self-defence after Porter had been arguing with the second man and had pulled out a knife (the same knife found in the roadside stream). Potter said he feared for his life that night and had fought with Porter after Porter advanced on him with the blade. Potter said he stabbed Porter multiple times before leaving him and the knife in the driveway. Porter had been headed back toward his house at the time, Potter said. He testified he had had suspicions about the men he had been hired to work with in Ontario, and had been looking only for legal work at the time. He said he had been afraid the men were planning to kill him the night they asked him to help move the body.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW? Lawyers are set to present their closing submissions to the jury Monday afternoon. After that, Handrigan will give his instructions to the jurors before sending them to begin their deliberations on a verdict. The jurors will remain sequestered with no access to phones or TV until they reach a decision.
