Defence doubles down on forensic investigator's memory, notes taken of Sweeney investigation

Retired Sudbury police officer Rick Waugh says he remembers feeling "exhausted" when he arrived at his hotel in Mildmay, on Feb. 11, 1998. 

On Tuesday, Waugh told the court that he had travelled on that day to the small Bruce County town, searching an apartment that John Fetterly once lived in. 

John Fetterly was charged in the January 1998 murder of Renée Sweeney, but was released a day later, after it was determined that his fingerprints were not a match to a print collected at the scene.

Waugh told the court, during the defence's cross-examination, that he had incorrectly identified a fingerprint found at the adult video store, as a match for John Fetterly.  

My memory tells me that we went directly there.— Rick Waugh, retired Sudbury police officer

Waugh told the court he had to convince himself that the prints matched. The defence said Waugh 'fell into error as a result of peer pressure' and suggested that he falsified notes.

Now, Steven Wright, 43, is standing trial for Sweeney's murder. 

On Wednesday morning, Waugh's cross-examination resumed. The defence continued to drill Waugh on the notes he took during the investigation. Waugh led the forensic investigation of Sweeney's murder.

The court learned on Wednesday that Waugh was "transitioned" off of the case in February 1998. 

Defence lawyer Michael Lacy focused on the length of time it took Waugh to travel from Sudbury to Mildmay. Waugh's notes recorded it as a journey that took seven-and-a-half hours.

Referring to a Google Maps image, Lacy said the journey only takes about about four-and-a-half hours. Lacy also asked Waugh if his notes included the route of travel he took, the mileage, or how many times he stopped along the way. 

"Do you accept that it was a lot shorter drive than your memory tells you?" Lacy said.

Waugh told the court he could not account for the time gap. He said, 'My memory tells me that we went directly there.'

Waugh later told the court that he remembers going back to his home in Sudbury to get an overnight bag. 

Afternoon testimony

In the afternoon, Sgt. Robert Weston, who has been the primary criminal investigator in the case since October 2013, took the stand. 

Weston said he remembers being a student attending university back in 1998, when Sweeney was murdered. He told the jury he remembers entering grocery stores where posters were pinned up by police, appealing to the public for help with the investigation. 

He told the court that he was approached to take the case on and said he worked on the case "off the corner of [his] desk" while juggling a number of other duties. 

Crown attorney Robert Parsons spent the afternoon slowly leading Weston through the events that resulted in Wright's arrest on Dec. 11, 2018. Parsons went through a series of 12 media releases published by the police since Sweeney's murder in 1998.

Weston also told the court what led police to use the DNA technology called Snapshot in the case, and how it was used to arrest Wright. The technology uses phenotyping, which is the process of predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA samples.

Before adjourning for the day, Justice Robert Gordon instructed the jury to view the information detailed by the Crown as hearsay narrative, meaning Weston's testimony should be used by the jury as a narrative to better understand the events that took place — not as proof of Wright's innocence or guilt.