Dennis Oland may be ordered to stand trial for murder, or discharged today

Dennis Oland will learn his fate today, following a lengthy preliminary inquiry that started seven months ago.

Provincial court Judge Ronald LeBlanc will rule at 9:30 a.m. whether there's enough evidence for Oland to stand trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his father, prominent businessman Richard Oland, or if he should be discharged.

​The test before the judge is whether a properly instructed jury acting reasonably could return a guilty verdict on the evidence presented.

​If Dennis Oland, 46, is ordered to stand trial, a date will be set and he will face a judge and jury in the Court of Queen's Bench.

If he is discharged, he will walk away a free man and the publication ban LeBlanc ordered in May will be lifted.

That means all of the evidence presented during the preliminary inquiry will become public, along with the information from Oland's bail hearing last year.

The preliminary inquiry, which stretched out over 37 days, heard testimony from 42 witnesses, including police officers and medical experts. Graphic photographs were also entered as exhibits.

Discharges occur "very infrequently," according to a spokesperson from the Attorney General's office.

But when they do, they aren't necessarily the end of a criminal case.

Discharge different than acquittal

Prosecutors can't appeal a judge's decision to discharge, but they can request a judicial review.

A judicial review, however, comes with an even higher burden of proof than a preliminary inquiry.

The Crown can also apply to the Attorney General for a preferred indictment, basically overriding the judge's decision and ordering the accused to stand trial.

"The discretion vested in the Attorney General under section 577 of the Criminal Code is exercised only in exceptional circumstances involving serious violations of the law," according to New Brunswick's Public Prosecutions operations manual.

"The public interest may require a direct indictment in circumstances which include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• Where the accused is discharged at a preliminary inquiry because of an error of law, a jurisdictional error, or a palpable error on the facts of the case.
• Where the accused is discharged at a preliminary inquiry and new evidence is later discovered which, if it had been tendered at the preliminary inquiry, would likely have resulted in an order to stand trial."​

In addition, a discharge is not the same as an acquittal, so the so-called double jeopardy rule does not apply. If any new evidence comes to light down the road, an accused can be charged again and ordered to stand trial.

During closing arguments last month, Crown prosecutor John Henheffer told the courtroom the Crown is relying on a "series of circumstantial facts" and forensic analysis which, when viewed in totality, the "reasonable and logical inference" is that Dennis Oland is the assailant.

Defence lawyer Alan Gold, of Toronto, argued the Crown does not have a reasonable inference of guilt and suggested the entire investigation was flawed due to "tunnel vision" by the Saint John Police Force.

Richard Oland, 69, was found dead in his investment firm office, Far End Corporation, on July 7, 2011.

Dennis Oland, his only son, was arrested more than two years later, on Nov. 12, 2013, and charged the following day. He has been living in the community under conditions since Nov. 18, 2013 and his extended family has stood by him.