Timmins OPP officer on trial for attempted murder
Accusing a police officer of committing arson and attempted murder was a desperate attempt to deflect blame over an accidental fire, suggests the defence lawyer for Cecile Fournel.
"On the night of the fire, Chantal Boudreau believed she was being blamed" and that it would be used against her in a child custody hearing, Seth Weinstein told Timmins Superior Court Friday.
"She was in damage control ... Who better to shift the blame than the person she was with that night?"
Weinstein is representing Fournel, a South Porcupine Ontario Provincial Police officer charged with attempted murder, arson and administering a noxious substance. The allegations stem from a house fire on Kellyann Dr. in Timmins on Feb. 25, 2009.
The trial concluded Friday with Weinstein providing the defence's summation of the evidence.
Fournel is accused of drugging and then trying to kill her daughter-in-law by starting a fire in a bedroom closet while Boudreau was incapacitated.
However, Weinstein suggested the sleeping medication detected in Boudreau's system through a toxicology test may have been a "product of her own voluntary consumption."
Citing testimony from previous hearings, Weinstein said she has a history of mixing drugs and alcohol.
He noted three different brands of sleeping capsules found in Boudreau's house.
She said she had used them in her college days.
However, Weinstein said the number of pills present in the home suggest regular and more recent use.
The toxicology tests, from a urine sample provided two days after the fire, found the presence of the active ingredients in sleeping aids in her system.
Weinstein said all the test proved was that she ingested the drugs anywhere between one hour to four days prior to providing the urine sample.
"That is a massive window of opportunity for the substance to get into her system," he said.
Weinstein suggested the "lynch pin" in the prosecution's case is the video footage obtained from a Timmins drug store showing Fournel purchasing sleeping aid capsules less than an hour before meeting with the daughter-in-law who she is accused of trying to kill.
Weinstein dismissed the importance of that footage, saying, "There is no evidence who she bought that Nytol for."
Weinstein spent much of Friday attacking the credibility and reliability of several of the Crown's key witnesses.
He highlighted what he felt were "fundamental inconsistencies" in the testimony of both Boudreau and Detective Const. Dave Martin.
Weinstein suggested the two key witnesses conspired against Fournel, and that there was professional and personal animosity that already existed between the accused Fournel and the investigating officer Martin.
Martin was the officer who found the Nytol capsules in the police cruiser which Fournel had been driving the night of the fire.
However, during the course of his testimony, Martin could not recall why he was searching the vehicle in the first place.
Weinstein said Martin's "shocking inability to explain why he decided to search the car is troubling"
It was a "watershed moment," he said.
"Why is this moment a complete and utter blank?"
Weinstein said it leads one to question whether Martin even went to the car or found the pills in the vehicle.
Weinstein challenges the prosecution's position that Boudreau was "incapacitated."
"You would expect someone who woke up after an alcohol and drug-induced sleep to be in a bit of a fog."
However, he said she had the dexterity to run up and down stairs and get a bucket of water to try to put out the fire.
He said she had no difficulty calling 911 or communicating with the dispatcher.
"You heard the tape, she is not slurring her words," Weinstein said.
None of the firefighters or neighbours on scene made observations of her being impaired or disoriented.
"The evidence does not support the assertion that Ms. Boudreau was incapacitated prior to the fire," said Weinstein.
Boudreau also testified that Fournel arrived on the scene and ordered her, "using strong language," to get into her car.
Weinstein said nobody at scene recalls seeing that.
In fact one neighbour testified when Fournel arrived on the scene she immediately gave Boudreau a hug.
Weinstein spoke at length and raised questions about the missing bed sheets and comforter.
"Why are they gone without a trace? It's the elephant in the room."
Weinstein said it raises the questions about the possibility the fire started on the bed and worked its way towards the closet.
He suggested if Boudreau started the fire by smoking in bed, the sheets may have been consumed by the fire.
Doug Horn, an Ontario Fire Marshal Office investigator, had offered his opinion during the trial that the fire started in the closet.
Weinstein in his closing statements, suggested Horn was premature in not considering the possibility that the fire started on the bed.
However, Crown attorney Marc Huneault noted the pillows were also missing and suggested the defence was "attempting to put forward an alternative theory, not supported by Horn, without calling the evidence."
Huneault also responded to Weinstein's assertion that Fournel would not have had enough time to spike Boudreau's drink while pouring it at the counter.
Huneault said there would have been ample opportunity, noting that Fournel had brought in the wine glasses from outside and Boudreau had her back to Fournel during a phone call.
Judge Patricia Hennessy said she would require time to review the evidence and reserved judgement on the case.
Based on the lawyer's schedules, the earliest a verdict may be handed down is December.
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2011/10/1 ... ted-murder