DNA extracted from Dennis Oland's bloodstained jacket matches slain father's - Action News
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New Brunswick

DNA extracted from Dennis Oland's bloodstained jacket matches slain father's

DNA extracted from three of the bloodstains found on the brown sports jacket Dennis Oland wore when he visited his father on the night he was killed matched his father's profile, a DNA expert from the RCMP forensic lab confirmed.

Oland, 51, is being retried on a charge of 2nd-degree murder in his father's 2011 bludgeoning death

Dennis Oland, 51, has maintained his innocence from the beginning and members of his extended family have stood by him. (CBC)

DNA extracted from three of the bloodstains found on the brown sports jacket Dennis Oland wore when he visited his father on the night he was killed matched his father's profile, a DNA expert from the RCMP forensic labconfirmed.

The estimated probability of selecting an unrelated individual at random from theCanadian Caucasian populationwith the same DNA profile is one in 510 billion, according to Joy Kearsey.

By comparison, the estimated world population is only between seven and eight billion, she said.

The quantity of human DNA obtained from the fourth confirmed bloodstain on Oland'sHugo Boss jacket didn't meet the RCMP's minimum requirement for processing,Kearseyfound.A minimum of 0.246 nanograms of DNA, a billionth of a gram, is required for analysis.

Oland, 51,is being retried for second-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of hisfather RichardOland more than seven years ago.

A jury found him guilty in 2015, but the New BrunswickCourt of Appeal overturned hisconviction in 2016, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury. He is being retried by judge alone in Saint John's Court of Queen's Bench.

On Tuesday, the court watched some ofKearsey'svideotaped testimony fromOland'sfirst trial.The Crown and defence agreed toplay the videorather thanrecallingheras a witness.

The balance of Kearsey'stestimony will be heard on Thursday.

The retrial is scheduled to resume Wednesdayat 9:30a.m. withan unusual application by Oland's defence lawyers to havehearsay evidence about the unsuccessful search for his dead father's missing cellphonedeclared as fact.

DNA scientist Joy Kearsey, pictured here in 2015, worked at the RCMP forensic lab in Halifax in 2011 and conducted tests on some of the samples related to the Richard Oland case. (CBC)

Crown prosecutor Jill Knee said the court will also hear from another witness in the afternoon. She did not name the witness, but it's expected to be John Ainsworth, one of two men who heard thumping noisescoming from the victim's second-floor office on July 6, 2011, the night he was killed.

Oland is the last person known to have seen his father alive when he visited him at his office at 52 Canterbury St.that night, between about 5:35 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The body of the 69-year-old multimillionaire was found face down in his blood-spattered investment firmoffice the next morning with 45injuries to his head, neck and hands.

Olandtold police he was wearing a navy blazer that night, but security video and witness testimony showed he was wearing a brown sports jacket.

The jacketwasdry cleaned the morning after Saint John police told Olandhe was a suspect in his father's homicide. It was seized from his bedroom closet a week later, with the dry-cleaning tag still attached to the collar.

Last week, the court heard ithad four smallbloodstains on it two on the right sleeve, one on the upper left chest and one on the back, in the middle, near the hem.All four were three millimetres or less in size.

The defence contendsOlandmade an honest mistakewhen he told police he was wearing a navy blazer, that the bloodstains were the result of innocent transfer and that the jacket was dry cleaned along with several other itemsbecause he needed clean clothes for his father's visitation and funeral.

Kearsey, who worked at the RCMPlab in Halifax, analyzedseveral samples from the jacket and numerous other exhibits in the Oland case, preparing 11 reports totalling 1,400 pages.

She did not get into the details of her findings during the portion of her testimony played onTuesday. Instead, the court heard her Power Point presentations on the identification of blood and the analysis of DNAthe "blueprint forlife."

No two people have identical DNA, except for identical twins, she said.

Richard Oland, 69, was found dead in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011. (Canadian Yachting Association)

In 2015 Kearsey testified shefound single-source DNAprofiles within three of the jacket bloodstains thatmatched the known sample of the victimin all nine areas used for comparison.

She could not sayhow the blood got on the jacket, or how long it had been there, but she did saythe DNA extracted fromthe bloodstained areas "likely" came from the blood, as opposedto another source, such as saliva, perspiration or tears.

The fourth bloodstain that didn't have enough DNA for comparisonby theRCMPlab was the lower one of the two found on the right sleeve, saidKearsey.

Twelve other stained areas eightfrominside the right cuff,two from inside the left cuff and twofrom the lining of the backwere also sampled andanalyzed.

Of those, two from theright cuffhada mixedDNA profile, with the major component matching the victim's profilewith a certainty ofone in 180 million, while one from the left cuffhad a mixed DNA profile,with theminor component matching the victim's profile with a probability of one in 40.

With the other nine samples, eitherno meaningful DNA comparison could be made,there wasn't enough DNA for processing or no human DNA was detected.

False negatives, false positives

Those 12 additional stained areaseither came backnegative for blood or no confirmatory blood test was performed, said Kearsey.

The two tests theRCMPlabsuseto detect bloodHemastixandhemochromogencan both produce false negative resultsif "environmental insults" have degraded thehemoglobin, saidKearsey. Washing an item, for example, or warm and moist environmentscan create false negatives, she said.

So if a stain tests negative for blood, that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't blood.

Hemastixis a screening test that is very sensitive but not specific for blood. Several other substances can give a false positive resultfor blood, including certain metals, suede,leather, dirt andmould. A positiveHemastixresult indicates only that blood may be present and further testing is required.

Hemochromogenis a confirmatory test. It is less sensitive thanHemastix, but isspecific for blood and has no known false positives, saidKearsey.

The court has heard forensic testing of the shirt, pants and shoes police believeOlandwas wearing when he visited his father did not detect any blood.

Tests on the red reusable grocery bag he reportedly had with him that night, the Blackberry he used after he left the office, and the car he drove home in also came back negative for blood.

The Crown expects to wrap up its case by the end of the week, after which the defence will begin presenting its evidence.