Dennis Oland murder trial jury summonses being mailed out

Some Saint John-area residents have received summonsesfor potential jury duty in Dennis Oland's retrial for second-degree murder in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, multimillionaire Richard Oland.

The mailed summonses do not indicate they're for Oland'strial.

But they are for proceedings being held Oct. 15 at Harbour Station and state that the trial "may be 65 sitting days in duration."

Oct. 15is when Oland'sretrial is scheduled to begin in Court of Queen's Benchin Saint John, and it's slatedto last up to 65 daysthe same length of time set aside for Oland'sfirst jury trialin 2015.

Harbour Station is the same venue used for jury selection during his first trial because the courthouse wasn't big enough to accommodate the large number of people.

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A total of 5,000 people from Saint John and Kings countieswere summonsed for his first trialto ensure a large enough jury pool from which to select 12jurors, two alternates and two additional jurors without anybias,conflictsof interest or personal reasons preventing them from serving.

It's unclear how many summonses have been mailed out this time. Department of Justice and Public Safety officials did not respond Monday to a request for more information.

Oland, 50, is accused of killing his 69-year-old father, whose body was discovered in his uptown office on July 7, 2011.

He has been free on bail, living in the community under conditions since October 2016 after the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned his December 2015 conviction and ordered a new trial, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury.

The jury summonses, which started showing up in mailboxes late last week, carry a "warning.

"Failure to obey this Juror Summons is a contempt of court for which the presiding judge may impose a fine of up to [$1,000] or other penalty," they state.

People who have a reason they feel they cannot serve, however, can apply to the head sheriff to be excused from jury duty prior to Oct. 15.

The provincial Jury Act sets out a variety of reasons people can be excused. They include:

• The person has served on a jury within the five years preceding the summons.
• The person is aged 70 or older.
• The person is unable to understand, speak or read the official language in which the proceeding is being conducted.
• The person suffers from a physical, mental or other infirmity that is "incompatible with the discharge of the duties of a juror."
• Jury servicewould cause "severe hardship" because theperson provides care to a child under the age of 14, a person who is infirm or elderly, or a person who is mentally incompetent.
• Jury service would cause "serious and irreparable financial loss" because the proceeding is expected to last 10 or more days.

Jurors in New Brunswickare normally paid $40 per day, but if the trial lasts longer than 10 days, the fee increases to $40 for each half-day and $80 for each full day, starting on Day 10.