Witness tells jury how he picked John Fetterly out of lineup after Sweeney murder

Raymond-Alexander Hutchinson says he was rushing to the computer services store he worked at, on Jan. 27, 1998. 

Hutchinson testified on Wednesday morning via Zoom, that he lived across the street from the strip mall where the computer shop was located — just a couple of shops over from the Adults Only Video store where Renée Sweeney was stabbed to death on that day. 

Hutchinson told the court he was about 21 years old at the time and grew up in Sudbury. He said that while he didn't know Sweeney intimately, they had both attended Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. 

Sweeney was a couple of years older than him, he said. And she and Hutchinson's girlfriend, at the time, were friends. 

Shuffling in a hurry

Hutchinson testified that he was running late and received two phone calls from his boss that morning, telling him to come in. The second phone call, Hutchinson told the jury, came at 10:37 a.m.

He told the court his boss called to say that he had a late night and asked Hutchinson to make him something to eat before he came in. Murmured chuckles trickled throughout the courtroom. 

Defence Lawyer Michael Lacy responded with, "Well you were quite the employee then."

Hutchinson told the jury that he remembers shuffling with his head bowed down along the sidewalk of the strip mall, in a hurry to get to work. That's when, he said, he saw someone entering the Adults Only Video store. 

'Scruffy with a goatee'

He told the court the interaction was so brief, that he didn't remember it when police first arrived at the strip mall after Sweeney was found dead. His memory, he told the jury, was jogged later and he provided a statement to police that evening. 

Lacy asked Hutchinson to describe what he told Sudbury police (later that day) that he saw. Hutchinson said he remembers telling police the door to the video store opened onto the sidewalk as the person entered the store. 

He testified that the person who was entering the store was a couple of feet to a metre away from him. 

Using a written statement taken on the evening of Jan. 27, 1998, Hutchinson described the person he saw walk into the store. He said the person was a man, about 5'8 or 5'9, "wearing a bulky beige-ish, green jacket" that could be described as a winter coat. He also noted that the coat could have had a hood on it and was the length of the man's waist. 

I remember the officer showing another officer the lineup photo I had picked and saying to him, 'He picked him. He picked him.'— Raymond-Alexander Hutchinson, defence witness

He told the court that in his statement from 1998, he described the man as white. He was "scruffy, with a goatee" and dark eyes (possibly brown). Hutchinson said the man's hair spilled over the sides of his face and that he was likely between 30 and 35 years of age. 

Lacy asked him what he told police when they asked him to recall if the man was wearing glasses. 

Hutchinson said, "I couldn't say. I didn't notice, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure if he was wearing glasses I would have remembered." 

Lacy then asked Hutchinson if he recalled seeing the posters with the composite sketches of the suspected killer at the time. Hutchinson confirmed that he did see the sketches published in the media but that they didn't look like the man he saw on Jan. 27, 1998.

Photo lineup

Lacy's questions then turned to the photo lineup, consisting of 12 men, that police presented to Hutchinson on Feb. 12, 1998. 

Hutchinson detailed how he had "mulled over" two of the 12 photos. He told the court he had difficulty picking a photo because of how different one of the photos looked because the man was clean shaven.

"I was reminded that people can change their hair and was told to take my time and be patient," Hutchinson told the court. 

"When I decided that that was the person that I saw I remember the officer showing another officer the lineup photo I had picked and saying to him, 'He picked him. He picked him. That's the guy."

Hutchinson told the jury that after the exchange between the officers, he said, "It's definitely him."

The man in the photo was identified as John Fetterly, who was later arrested and charged for the murder of Renée Sweeney — but released one day later. 

Lacy asked Hutchinson if he did in fact lie during the photo lineup. Hutchinson said he did not. 

Cross-examination

Crown attorney Kevin Ludgate begin the cross-examination by leading Hutchinson through the events of the morning of Jan. 27, 1998 and asking him what time Hutchinson may have arrived at the video store. 

Hutchinson described to the court the route he would have used to cross the street from his apartment to the strip mall, where he worked and ultimately, where the adult video store was also located. 

Ludgate suggested the scenario in which Hutchinson could have arrived at entrance of the video store, (when he had the brief encounter with the person entering the store) at 10:46 a.m. Hutchinson told the court that the suggestion was possible. 

Earlier in the trial, the court heard testimony from Sweeney's co-worker Fred Nurmi.

He was working at the Adults Only Video store on Lasalle Blvd. that morning and spoke with Sweeney on the phone three times.

A 'split second'

Sweeney called that morning to brag about getting an early sale that day and during the third call, at around 11 a.m., Nurmi said Sweeney hung-up because a customer came into the south-end store.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ludgate also suggested that the encounter between Hutchinson and the man entering the video store was "extremely brief." Hutchinson responded by saying "absolutely," and confirmed that it took place within a "split second."

However, Hutchinson said even as brief as the moment was, there was a brief second that the man "kind of glanced" at him. 

Ludgate then steered the cross-examination back to the photo lineup, from which Hutchinson had picked John Fetterly from, on Feb. 12, 1998, asking him, "Could you say today that you for sure could have ruled out the second photograph?" 

"Absolutely not, looking back at it," Hutchinson told the court. 

Ludgate moved on and grilled Hutchinson on a statement he gave in June 1999, about another person from the Lockerby area. Ludgate asked why Hutchinson didn't mention the person before, in his earlier statements to police. 

"You lied to police?" Ludgate asked. 

'I don't recall them wearing glasses'

Hutchinson said, "I don't say it's the same guy that I saw coming in the store," but rather, "I was saying there are other people they should be looking at, and giving any information I had."

After the Crown's cross-examination, defence lawyer Michael Lacy took the opportunity to ask Hutchinson, again, whether or not he remembered if the man entering the video store was wearing glasses. 

Hutchinson answered, "I don't recall them wearing glasses."

Lacy then questioned Hutchinson about the possibility that he could have observed the man entering the store just a few minutes before 11 a.m. (about 15 minutes after Ludgate's earlier suggestion and the time when Sweeney is said to have told Fred Nurmi that a customer had entered the store).

Hutchinson said it was possible. 

'I saw him right away'

In the final stretch of his question line, Lacy referenced Ludgate's earlier questions about Hutchinson not signing the statement he provided to police in June 1999.

Lacy asked him if he signed the Feb. 12th statement, on the day he picked out Fetterly from the photo lineup. Hutchinson told the court he did. 

Lacy quoted the signed document, reading part of Hutchinson's statement about the photo lineup process, "I took my time, looked at them for maybe a minute-and-a-half. I said, 'that's him, that's definitely him. I saw him right away ... I was two feet away from him."

"Was that a true statement?" Lacy asked Hutchinson. 

Hutchinson told the court, "Based on my knowledge, yes."