HALIFAX -- A newly released court ruling reveals two Nova Scotia judges were split on whether the sexual history of police officer Catherine Campbell could be used as evidence in the case of the man who killed her.
Last week, a 12-member jury found Christopher Garnier guilty of murdering the off-duty officer, rejecting his claim that she died accidentally during rough sex.
As part of Garnier's defence, lawyer Joel Pink had called a man who briefly dated Campbell to the stand to testify about her prior sexual activity.
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Joshua Arnold permitted the testimony, instructing jury members that they may decide to use the witness's evidence to determine whether Campbell had an interest in rough sex.
However, a decision by provincial court Judge Anne Derrick at the preliminary inquiry last July found Campbell's prior sexual relationship inadmissible at that hearing.
In her written decision, released publicly today, Derrick noted that the use of prior sexual conduct to establish consent has been discredited.
Although Arnold allowed evidence of Campbell's sexual history following a hearing behind closed doors, the testimony did not appear to bolster Garnier's defence.
The man who briefly dated Campbell, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told the jury he had sex with her on two occasions, and at one point, he put his hand on her throat.
When he was asked by Pink to describe for the jury how he did that, he opened his hand and placed it around the front of his own neck.
Under cross-examination by Crown attorney Christine Driscoll, the man conceded that he did not put pressure on Campbell's neck, and he agreed when Driscoll said his hand was on her throat in a "caressing fashion."
He agreed that she never asked to be choked.
Garnier took the stand in his own defence, telling the jury that Campbell encouraged him to choke and slap her during sex play.
The defence had also called psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Hucker, an expert in sexual masochism, to the stand to explain consensual "erotic asphyxiation."
However, after about 21 trial days, the jury took less than five hours to find Garnier guilty of second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body.
