Dennis Oland expected to testify Wednesday at his murder retrial in father's death

Dennis Oland is expected to testify Wednesday at his murder retrial in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, multimillionaire Richard Oland.

His defence team is scheduled to begin presenting evidence Tuesday, when the trial resumes in Saint John's Court of Queen's Bench following an 11-day break, weather permitting.

No witness list has been released, but lead defence lawyer Alan Gold said during opening statements that Oland would take the stand in his own defence, as he did at his first trial.

"You will hear him tell you, 'I am innocent. I did not kill my father. I did not do this cruel horrible attack on my father,'" Gold said on Nov. 21.

Gold confirmed Monday the "tentative plan" is for Oland to testify on Wednesday.

The defence has previously hinted other witnesses could include a cellphone tower expert regarding the victim's missing iPhone, a footwear impression expert regarding a possible partial bloody footprint found at the crime scene, and a toxicologist regarding alcohol detected in the victim's urine.

Gold has said the defence will also seek to have the court visit the crime scene because photographs of the victim's blood-spattered office at 52 Canterbury St. "don't do justice to the compactness of the location and that may well be a factor that the court has to consider in deciding what happened."

The body of the 69-year-old was discovered face down in a pool of blood in his investment firm office on July 7, 2011. He had suffered 45 sharp- and blunt-force injuries to his head neck and hands. No weapon was ever found.

Oland, 51, is the last person known to have seen his father alive when he visited him at the office the night before.

Gold expects the defence to wrap up its case by March 14. That's about twice as long as the four days the defence took at Oland's first trial in 2015, when a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder.

Oland was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. He served about 10 months before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury.

He is being retried by judge alone.

The Crown closed its largely circumstantial case against him on Feb. 22, following 39 days of testimony.

Bloodstained jacket, DNA match

A key piece of evidence in the Crown's case is the brown sports jacket Oland wore when he visited his father, which was dry cleaned the day after he was questioned by police. It was later found to have four small bloodstains on it and DNA matching his father's profile.

Oland told police he wore a navy blazer that night, but security video and witness testimony showed he was wearing a brown jacket.

The defence contends that was an honest mistake and has suggested the blood and DNA came from innocent transfer. A bloodstain pattern analyst and two scientists from the RCMP forensic lab could not say when or how the blood and DNA got on the jacket.

Oland's lawyers argue the "killer or killers" would have had a significant amount of blood on them, not "minuscule" spots, and note there was no sign of any clean up at the crime scene.

Missing iPhone communicated with Rothesay tower

The court has also heard the last communication received by the victim's missing cellphone was a text message at 6:44 p.m. on the night he was killed. It was transmitted by a cell tower in Rothesay near the wharf where Oland had stopped on his way home from visiting his father.

Earlier in the day, while the victim was at work, his cellphone had communicated with the cell tower near his office in uptown Saint John.

The Crown's expert testified the phone was "most likely" near the Rothesay tower when it received its final message because phones are designed to connect with whichever tower provides the best signal which is usually the closest one.

Under cross-examination by the defence, however, he said "there's a slight potential chance" the phone was still in or near the victim's office when the text was delivered, particularly if the Rothesay tower, 14 kilometres away, was designed to serve as a backup for the uptown tower during peak volumes or technical problems.

Rogers Communications was unable to confirm if the Rothesay tower was one of the so-called neighbour towers of the uptown tower in 2011, but said it's "highly likely" it was.

Alleged money motive

The Crown has suggested Oland's money problems as a possible motive, describing him as being "on the edge financially." He was nearly $750,000 in debt and overspending by about $14,000 a month in the months leading up to his father's death, the court has heard.

His $163,000 line of credit and $27,000-limit credit card were both maxed out and he had received a $16,000 advance on his pay. In addition, his latest $1,666.67 interest-only payment to his father for the $538,000 he had provided to bankroll his divorce from his first wife had bounced.

"​This was the financial burden carried by Dennis Oland when he went to visit his father," Crown prosecutor Jill Knee said during opening statements.

The defence contends Oland's financial struggles were nothing new and submits he could have borrowed more.

The Crown also suggested Oland did not approve of his father's extramarital affair with Diana Sedlacek, was worried word was starting to get out and had asked his father's business associate Robert McFadden to tell him to "cool it."

Under cross-examination, McFadden testified Oland only raised the issue with him once and it was at least 18 months before the homicide.

Family members haven't testified

The accused is not obligated to testify to prove his innocence. The burden of proof rests with the Crown.

Oland was one of only three witnesses called by the defence during his first trial. The other two included a bloodstain pattern analyst and a forensic computer expert.

Oland's mother Connie Oland, wife Lisa Andrik-Oland, sister Jacqueline Walsh, uncle Jack Connell, and friend Mary Beth Watt were all expected to testify on his behalf, but the defence abruptly closed its case following his testimony.

The defence said at the time it saw "no need to call any other evidence."

The jury deliberated for about 30 hours over four days before reaching its unanimous guilty verdict.

Oland has maintained his innocence from the beginning and members of his extended family have stood by him.