Final arguments in film-murder trial

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This article was published 12/04/2011 (5471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — A Canadian filmmaker accused of first-degree murder admitted most of a document found on his computer, which outlined a planned killing, represented a true account of the actual events, the Crown prosecutor said in her closing argument Monday.

“What Mr. Twitchell says is not true about this document are the requirements of first-degree murder,” said Avril Inglis, who characterized the accused, Mark Twitchell, as a proven liar who has told elaborate lies to police.

“It is not reasonable to rely on Mr. Twitchell,” Inglis said. “Any information you’ve received solely from Mr. Twitchell should have no credit.”

Twitchell is accused of planning to kill Johnny Altinger by luring him to an Edmonton garage in October 2008.

Twitchell has admitted he posed as a woman on an Internet dating website to lure Altinger to the garage. During his trial, however, he testified Altinger attacked him with a pipe after learning he wasn’t going to meet a woman.

He said he stabbed Altinger unintentionally during the altercation, then dismembered Altinger’s body and eventually dumped his partial remains down a city sewer.

Inglis called the case against Twitchell “compelling” and said jurors should have no problem finding his actions planned and intentional.

She pointed to the attack against Gilles Tetreault, another man who was lured to the garage on the promise of a date with a woman. Tetreault fought with Twitchell and escaped. Twitchell claimed he had set up the encounter as part of a hoax for his movie projects.

“Mr. Twitchell’s intention was to lure him there, to extort him, and to kill him,” she said. “Mr. Twitchell failed, but that didn’t change what his plan was and his intention was.”

She said Twitchell’s actions after killing Altinger — he dismembered Altinger’s body twice and tried to burn his remains and throw them off a bridge, before eventually dumping them down a sewer — do not represent the actions of a panicked individual.

“These are signs of his trial and error, not panic.”

She argued Twitchell did not kill Altinger accidentally or in self-defence. “The truth is obvious and has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Twitchell should be found guilty of first-degree murder.”

Earlier on Monday, Twitchell’s own lawyer told the jury that while they may be suspicious of the filmmaker’s story, they cannot be sure of what happened the night Altinger was killed.

“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that you’re perhaps suspicious of what Mr. Twitchell has told you… but can you be sure of what happened the night of Oct. 10, 2008, in that garage?” Charles Davison said during his closing arguments.

Davison acknowledged the evidence presented against Twitchell during the four-week trial. But he said the jury can’t merely be suspicious of Twitchell’s actions — they must be sure he committed a crime if they are to find him guilty.

Prosecutors allege a 42-page document called SKconfessions that was found on Twitchell’s laptop chronicles the aspiring filmmaker’s plan to kill Altinger and the killing itself. Twitchell testified the document was loosely based on his life, but was peppered with fiction.

“The defence’s position is that SKconfessions is at best a fictionalized version of certain real events,” Davison said. “SKconfessions has some roots in reality, but it’s not written up to be truthful and accurate in all respects.”

He acknowledged the document — which is written by a narrator who claims he wants to become a serial killer — may not be something the jurors would have wanted to buy at a bookstore.

But he insisted the story was embellished in various places in order “to make a better story.”

While the document describes a planned, fatal attack by the narrator on an unsuspecting man, Davison said a story about a fight that went awry was not what the story was supposed to be about.

“”This was supposed to be a story about the character’s progression into becoming a serial killer,” Davison said.

 

— Postmedia News