A familiar piece of Crown evidence was back on display Tuesday in Dennis Oland's retrial for murder.
Testimony in the Saint John courtroom focused on how Oland's brown sports jacket was dry-cleaned the day after the body of his father, Richard Oland, was found in his Saint John office.
On July 8, 2011, Lisa Oland took 19 items to a dry-cleaning shop, including Oland’s brown jacket.
Dennis Oland was seen in a surveillance video wearing a brown jacket while on his way to visit his father.
The customer receipt for those dry-cleaned items was identified by the shop's co-owner, Jin Hee Choi.
She was questioned about what she saw, or didn't see, on the jacket at the time it was dropped off.
Defence lawyer Alan Gold asked “if someone had brought into you a jacket with lots of blood stains, you would remember it, correct?”
Jin Hee Choi said “yes.”
Gold continued: “you saw no blood on these clothes, correct?”
She responded: “correct.”
Gold: “And that is the truth, correct?”
Once again, Jin Hee Choi answered, “yes.”
The dry-cleaner's husband was also called to the stand.
Yang Hwan Nam is co-owner of the shop, and he too was shown the brown jacket. But that piece of evidence failed to jog his memory.
The Crown asked him: “Do you recognize this item?”
And he replied: “It was such a long time ago, I can't remember.”
However, he did recognize his dry-cleaning tags that are still attached to the jacket.
Jin Hee Choi remembered who picked up the jacket the next day.
The Crown asked: “Who paid for it?”
Jin Hee Choi replied: “Lisa (Oland) paid for it.”
She says, at the time, Dennis Oland was outside the shop waiting in the passenger seat of their vehicle.
Police later seized the jacket from Dennis Oland’s home and a forensics analysis of the jacket found four tiny spots of blood, matching the DNA of Richard Oland.
The defence has argued in the past that the jacket and the other items needed to be dry-cleaned because the family was getting ready for the upcoming visitation and funeral for Richard Oland.
The trial continues Wednesday with more from the police department's lead investigator of the Oland murder.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.
