What the jury didn’t hear in the Laura Babcock murder trial

A Toronto jury is now deliberating on whether Dellen Millard and Mark Smich are guilty of the murder of 23-year-old Laura Babcock.

The pair are already serving life sentences for the first degree murder of Tim Bosma, for which they were convicted last year, but any evidence from the Tim Bosma trial was prohibited from publication in order to preserve the integrity of the facts of the Laura Babcock case.

Before they were selected for the panel, jurors were asked whether they had heard of the two accused, Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, involved in any case other than the disappearance of Laura Babcock.

Tim Bosma’s name was not mentioned, but seven of 14 jurors indicated they were aware the accused had already been convicted of killing the 32-year-old father, who had been trying to sell his Dodge Ram pickup, the same truck Millard had been coveting.

It’s unclear if any jurors were also aware that Millard still faces murder charges in connection with his father, Wayne Millard, who was at first thought to have committed suicide on November 29, 2012.

Millard and Smich were found guilty of Tim Bosma’s murder June 17, 2016.

They burned his body in a large animal incinerator found on Millard’s farm. Bosma’s blood was found on the hatch, and human bones were among the ashes inside.

Crown Prosecutor Jill Cameron tried unsuccessfully to get that information to the jury, she said
Mark Smich had told his girlfriend, Marlena Meneses, that Bosma’s wasn’t the first or only body he and Millard had burned.

The Crown also wanted to tell the jury about illard’s other crimes, like theft and trafficking drugs, and to show that Millard had done that sort of thing “for the thrill of it.” And that Millard had more than just the 32-calibre revolver this jury saw. This was the one found beside a dead Wayne Millard. But there was also evidence of the Walther PPK used to kill Tim Bosma, and a Smith & Wesson bodyguard handgun.

Also, some messages were excluded. In a January 2013 message Millard’s cousin wondered, “what are you up to lately?” and he answered”smuggling drugs killing hookers.”

Laura Babcock had been working as an escort for about a month before she went missing.

Another motion would have kept Laura Babcock’s father from having to endure cross examination by Dellen Millard after he testified. The Crown argued that a lawyer should have been hired for that. The judge disagreed.

One of the questions that keeps coming up in relation to this case is “why is Dellen Millard representing himself?” You’d have to get into his head to know for sure, but there were several motions leading up to this trial about Millard’s finances- he tried to get legal aid and was denied, for example- and at one point, when Millard was complaining yet again about not having enough time to prepare, or about it being his first time doing something, Justice Code got angry. He said “you have enough money to have a team of lawyers here, you’ve had plenty of time to prepare a defence, you are representing yourself because you want to.”

The jury started deliberations at about 2pm this afternoon. They are now sequestered until they reach a verdict. If they find Millard and Smich guilty, it does not bode well for the two killers who have appealed the verdict in the Bosma trial last year, in terms of winning the appeal, and because they would face a second life sentence on top of the first. If Smich is found not guilty, he might have an easier time during the appeal, because he testified at the Bosma trial, and appeal court judges will take that into consideration.