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The Mark Twitchell Trial Wednesday March 16, 2011 1:10 Moderator: Proceedings Are Set to Start at 1:30

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The Mark Twitchell Trial Wednesday March 16, 2011 1:10 Moderator: Proceedings Are Set to Start at 1:30 Live blog: The Mark Twitchell Trial Wednesday March 16, 2011 1:10 Moderator: Proceedings are set to start at 1:30. Ben will be posting shortly. 1:36 Moderator: Ben has gone into the courtroom for thet start of the proceedings. Our plan is that Ben will sitting in the courtroom and coming out to post. 1:39 Moderator: The Journal was hoping to be able to live blog the trial from inside the courtroom But that was denied by the judge. "Justice Terry Clackson denied a request by the Edmonton Journal and CBC to have Internet access in court during the trial, which is expected to last seven weeks with 72 people slated to take the stand. He said there would be a ban on all electronic devices by media and the general public in court. " 1:43 Moderator: Click here for full coverage of the Mark Twitchell trial. 2:09 bengelinas: Mark Twitchell has pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder in the October 2008 death of Johnny Altinger. When Twitchell's trial opened this afternoon in Edmonton, he instead attempted to enter an alternate plea of guilty for improperly interfering with a body. The Crown prosecutors rejected this alternate plea. The jury will soon hear the Crown's opening arguments. 2:46 bengelinas: Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke has just wrapped opening arguments on behalf of himself and fellow Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis. 2:46 bengelinas: Van Dyke outlined a timeline for the jury that stretched over five weeks in the fall of 2008. 2:49 bengelinas: First he brought up Twitchell's film House of Cards. Most of the filming took place in a rented garage over the weekend of Sept. 26-28, 2008. The focus of the film, Van Dyke said, was a killer who uses an internet dating website to lure his victim to his death. 2:54 bengelinas: Then Van Dyke brought up Oct 3, 2008, the night the Crown submits a 30-something user of the dating website plentyoffish.com was directed by someone (he believed to be an attractive young woman) to the same garage after exchanging messages. Once inside the garage, it is expected this witness will tell the jury he was attacked, first with a stun baton, which apparently had little effect. His masked attacker then produced what looked to be a gun, ordered him to the floor and put tape over his eyes. He then decided to fight back, pulling the tape off his eyes and grabbing the barrel of the gun, which felt fake. Van Dyke said a struggle ensued and the victim managed to escape. 2:55 bengelinas: There's much more to say, but I need to get back in to listen to the Crown's first witness. 2:55 bengelinas: It's important to note a couple things before I go... 2:56 bengelinas: 1. The Crown says police have since recovered the partial remains of Johnny Altinger, apparently dumped in a sewer. They were found two blocks from Twitchell's parents' house more than a year after the charge, following a visit by police to Twitchell in Remand. 3:00 bengelinas: 2. The Crown will focus at least some of its case on a document recovered from the memory of Twitchell's laptop, called "skconfessions." It details the author's progression into becoming a "serial killer." Names in the document have been changed (Twitchell's wife's name is Jess, the author's wife's name is Tess). But the Crown will argue that beyond this, the details contained in the more than 30 pages will be shown to be an accurate account of what happened to Johnny Altinger. 3:00 bengelinas: I'll be back 3:01 bengelinas: Check edmontonjournal.com in the meantime for my colleague Alex Zabjek's updated story. Thursday March 17, 2011 11:20 bengelinas: On Wednesday afternoon, the jury heard from forensics officer Randy Topp, who was at the time a sergeant in the Edmonton Police Service's Forensic Identification Section. He presented a series of video tours of the primary "crime scenes" in the Twitchell case, including the garage where the Crown argues Altinger was killed and Twitchell's St. Albert home. We have created a Google map showing the approximate locations of each scene. Each icon on the map links to a portion of a video presented in court. You can find the map here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell/4452865/story.html 11:21 bengelinas: This morning the jury is hearing from Const. Gary Short, who worked under Topp in the ident unit. It was his job to take pictures of the scenes. He said he took over 1,200. Many were presented this morning. 11:22 bengelinas: Among many orienting shots of Johnny Altinger's apartment, Mark Twitchell's home and the cars belonging to both men, were glimpses of evidence later seized. 11:23 bengelinas: In the trunk of Twitchell's car, Short noted a gas can with gas in it and blood stains in the interior fabric. 11:25 bengelinas: In Twitchell's home, police found swords kept in various corners, a box for an electronic stun gun, draft designs for a metal chair and table, and a goalie mask with gold stripes painted across its face, the mouth of the mask apparently cut out. 11:29 bengelinas: Short also noted a Dexter novel found in the back seat of Twitchell's car. 2:51 bengelinas: After the jury viewed Short's photos, copies were supplied to the media. We have posted one photo on our website that shows Luminol sprayed by police across the floor of the garage Twitchell rented. You can see it here: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Bloody+evidence+found+early+Twitchell+search/4458027/story.html 2:52 bengelinas: Luminol is used by police to expose traces of blood. 2:54 bengelinas: Short concluded his testimony this afternoon by showing us the sewer where police recovered Altinger's remains in early June 2010. The grate was in an alley off 129 Avenue and 86 Street. A medical examiner descended into the 2.8 metre deep sewer shaft where he recovered the remains. 3:25 bengelinas: Const. Nancy Allen, also with the forensics, detailed items found in Twitchell's Grand AM, Alberta plates DRK JEDI. 3:26 bengelinas: They included a hunting knife with what appeared to be blood on it and a laptop, also with what appeared to be blood on it. 3:32 bengelinas: Sticky notes were also found in Twitchell's car. Some were rough maps that led him from St. Albert into the city and on to Wetaskiwin. Other stickies had hand-written notes that included, among other instructions: "Ship phone while its on," "return addy of vic," "destroy wallet contents" and "kill room clean sweep." 5:30 bengelinas: Another note found in Twitchell's car mapped a path from St. Albert, where Twitchell lived, to the crossroads near Johnny Altinger's condo. 5:30 bengelinas: Retiring for the day. Check back tomorrow, when more evidence is expected from Const. Allen. Friday March 18, 2011 9:18 bengelinas: Good morning. The Twitchell trial is set to resume at 10 a.m. MT. I will be updating throughout the day as much as possible. It gets tricky because I'm not allowed to take my laptop into the courtroom. I have been writing in the hall -- during breaks, mostly. They have set up a room that broadcasts audio from the courtroom, but the forensics team is presenting hundreds of pictures and cardboard boxes full of evidence, things best seen if I'm to report accurately. During witness testimony I may experiment with reporting live off the audio. If and when I do this, I will let you so you will know what you're reading is based solely off the audio. It's not ideal. 11:07 bengelinas: This morning, the hockey mask was entered as an exhibit. It's a large black, old-style goalie mask, an updated version of what Plante wore. Three gold stripes are painted along its face. The mouth area appears to have been removed. Allen said it was found in Twitchell's basement on a pile of clothes near his computer. You can see the mask in the video linked to Twitchell's home on this map: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/twitchell-case/map_evidence.html 11:09 bengelinas: They also seized from the basement: hand-drawn diagrams of a large table with six legs and a chair, sales receipts for a butcher knife and handcuffs, and an air pistol with baby blue pellets. 11:12 bengelinas: Still more items seized from Twitchell's house by police: - blue jeans and a sweatshirt with what appeared to be blood stains - burned Dexter DVDs, labeled what Allen read as "52," though Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke asked if it could be "S2." - a box for a Stunmaster stun baton - at last count, four swords 12:55 bengelinas: When court resumed this morning, Allen began leading the jury through some 150 photos of evidence seized from Twitchell's garage studio. 12:55 bengelinas: Police seized cleaning supplies like ammonia, the bottle marked in spots with what appeared to be blood. 12:57 bengelinas: They also found a bottle of corn syrup and two bottles of red food colouring. 1:00 bengelinas: Among the items entered as exhibits in the trial were an extending stun baton, advertised as delivering 800,000 volts, found in the garage, as well as a metal pipe, wrapped on one end in black cloth tape.
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