The jury for the murder trial for former Cochranite Ryan Lane started deliberations on Tuesday.
The jury for the murder trial for former Cochranite Ryan Lane started deliberations on Tuesday.
Sheena Cuthill, husband Timothy Rempel and brother Wilhelm Rempel are all charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the connection with the death of Lane.
Lane went missing on Feb. 6, 2012 after meeting in a rural area outside the city with Timothy and Wilhelm during the early morning hours of Feb. 7, 2012.
Cuthill and Lane had split shortly after the birth of their daughter in 2007 and were in a custody battle when Lane went missing.
“We know how this story ends, in a burn barrel. Ryan Lane is dead, ” Crown prosecutor Tom Buglas told the jurors on Monday during closing statements.
The Crown's theory is the three co-conspired in the kidnapping and murder.
Buglas explained to jurors how the Crown's theory was Cuthill was the “puppet-master ” of the plan, referencing the text message Cuthill had received at 1:20 a.m. on Feb. 6, 2012 from Timothy that read, “Give me the OK, ” and Cuthill replied at 1:24 a.m. “OK. ”
“There are too many coincidences to wave away speculation, ” Bulgas said.
Cuthill and Timothy were called to the stand in their own defence during week four and five of the trial.
Cuthill's defence lawyer Alain Hepner admitted that his client answered “poorly ” on the stand when cross-examined by the Crown, saying Cuthill lacked self-esteem.
“She was impressionable, she wasn't strong, ” Hepner said in closing statements on Monday.
“(Cuthill) did not counsel, incite or encourage anyone to kill Ryan Lane. ”
Both Rempel's brother's lawyers pointed to the lack of evidence in the trial during their respective closing statements.
“Unfortunately, the Crown's case consists of circumstantial evidence, ” Allan Fay, defence lawyer for Timothy, told the jurors on Monday.
Fay referenced the text messages that talked in “code ” according to the Crown's theory, which Cuthill and Timothy testified the texts were discussing a Nickleback concert and hockey game.
“These are not sophisticated people, ” Fay told the jury.
“Tim told the truth. The truth that made him look good and the truth that made him look bad. ”
During Timothy's testimony, he admitted to meeting with Lane during the late night hours of Feb. 6, 2012 after enlisting help from his brother Wilhelm. Timothy said he called Lane with the promise of showing Lane pictures of his daughter and Cuthill. The plan was for Wilhelm to pick up Lane at a gas station in northwest Calgary and drive to meet Timothy in a rural area outside of the city.
Timothy testified that the meeting got violent after the accused broke Lane's nose but Timothy said when he drove away Lane was alive.
Bulgas urged jurors to give Timothy's testimony “zero weight. ”
The Crown prosecutor reminded jurors that Timothy admitted to building the burn barrel where Lane's remains were found.
“The burn barrel itself speaks to planning, ” Buglas said.
“You can safely… dismiss Tim Rempel's evidence. ”
Buglas also reminded jurors of when Timothy admitted the text exchange between him and his wife did not make sense.
“It is not just the Crown who disagrees with Tim Rempel, it is his own wife, ” Buglas said.
Wilhelm Rempel was not called to testify in his own defence because there was not enough evidence to convict him, his lawyer Jim Lutz told the jurors on Monday.
“Ask yourself, is there enough evidence that Wilhelm Rempel wanted Ryan Lane dead? No, there is not, ” Lutz said.
The defence lawyer mentioned to the jury that it was an interesting homicide case given the cause of death was unknown and told the jury that there was no way to place Wilhelm at the site where the burned remains were found.
“Those are critical factors in a homicide conviction, ” Lutz said.
All three defence lawyers asked the eight-woman, four-man jury to find their respective clients not guilty.
The Crown prosecutor urged the jurors to return a guilty verdict for all three accused, noting that all of the accused had motive to kill Lane.
“Sheena Cuthill, Tim Rempel and Will Rempel all agreed to kill Ryan Lane, ” Buglas said.
The Crown and defence lawyers finished presenting evidence during the fifth week in the trial, which included the text messages, taped phone calls, Lane's DNA that was found in the Rempel brother's vehicles, and burnt human remains from a burn barrel in a rural area by Beiseker that also included Lane's class ring and pieces of a cell phone.
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