Legere Trial Drawings


Legere trial sketch,

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

- and -

ALLAN JOSEPH LEGERE

TRIAL held before Honourable Mr. Justice David M. Dickson and a Petit Jury at Burton, New Brunswick, commencing on the 26th day of August, A. D. 1991, at 10:00 in the forenoon.

LEGERE TRIAL DRAWINGS©
by
COURT ARTIST CAROL TAYLOR

 

 

 

 

THE LEGERE TRIAL SKETCHES
Artist: Carol Taylor

This document contains information about the Legere trial based on the drawings and the book Terror’s End [by Rick MacLean, André Veniot and Shaun Waters.  The court sketches made during the choosing of the jury in the Oromocto High School were for CBC Fredericton only; when the trial started in Burton, Carol Taylor drew for all three stations: Fredericton’s CBC English [language television] station (she was hired by Mark Pedersen), Moncton’s CBC French [language television] station, and ATV.  She had no idea when asked to cover the beginning of the trial in Oromocto that it would continue for three months. The small-sized paper used for the [early] drawings attests to the last minute call to travel the (then) two hour drive to be at the [Oromocto] High School the morning of August 26, 1991. When it became apparent that the trial would be a long one she was offered the job of covering it three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only.


Terror’s End: Allan Legere on Trial, by Rick Maclean, André Veniot and Shaun Waters.  Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1992.
Editor’s Note:  To assist the reader we have occasionally added to the descriptions, the names of persons appearing in the drawings.  In the first instance of each, these names will appear in square brackets  [ ].  We have also made an editorial judgment to complete sentences or descriptions when possible, in the knowledge that these were of necessity hurried and brief at the time the notes were made by the artist.



August 26, 1991:

The Oromocto High School stage became a courtroom. Five hundred and ten letters [had been] sent out to potential jurors. At 8:30am the police searched school and grounds one more time. At 9:30am, Allan Legere was brought to the school with shackles on his wrists and legs.

The auditorium held 325 seats, many of which were blocked off with yellow tape. (Carol Taylor, the artist, sat approximately a third of the way down on the right with a general, but not close up, view of the stage at the front of the large red auditorium.)

Once everyone was seated the court clerk, Gerald Pugh, read the charges. Legere said “not guilty” to each. The judge said it would be a long trial with the prosecutors calling 243 witnesses.  One hundred and eighty possible jurors were in the room.  According to a quote from Terror’s End: “some couldn’t be found, some cited financial hardship, 34 no longer lived in the area, 26 had young children, 7 had criminal records, some were sick and 6 were dead”. 

Picking the jury:

Judge Dickson and Weldon Furlotte [defence counsel] agreed on a list of questions Furlotte could ask each potential juror: Had they formed an opinion about the case? Did they follow the news? Could they resist pressures from family and friends? Had they read the book Terror’s End by MacLean, Veniot [and Waters]?

The potential jurors were called four at a time. Thirty two people were questioned and none were chosen. Furlotte kept trying to ask if they thought his client was guilty and the judge continued to stop him with Legere interjecting. The law allowed Furlotte to reject 20 people. [Subsequently] a mini-jury of two people was chosen from the first accepted jurors to judge each person coming forward. They found five biased.

August 27, 1991:

By late afternoon 11 jurors were accepted with Jeffrey Moorcraft becoming the 12th. He was the 150th person questioned and became one of a six man, six woman jury made up of people from mid-thirties to mid-sixties. They were housewives, civil servants and a man who ran a janitorial service. As usual the judge warned them not to discuss the case.

DRAWINGS AVAILABLE ONLINE:

Drawing 1

August 26, 1991: An overview of the Oromocto High School.

Written at the bottom: Oromocto High Legere Jury selection. 

Drawing 2

August 26, 1991: Weldon Furlotte, Legere and guards in a makeshift courtroom on the stage of the Oromocto High School. 

Written at the bottom: Legere Oromocto Jury selection.

Drawing 3

August 27, 1991: To the right of Weldon Furlotte, the prosecutors’ table showing Tony Allman, Graham Sleeth, court clerk Gerald Pugh, Judge Dickson and a potential juror in the stand set up for jury selection. 

Written at the bottom: Oromocto High Legere Jury selection.

Drawing 4

August 27, 1991: Oromocto High School, the crowd of potential jurors and interested public being searched before being allowed to go through the metal detector and into the auditorium. (Carol Taylor’s drawing materials bag was searched but she was allowed to keep her small exacto knife.) 

Written at the bottom: Legere Jury selection.

Drawing 5

August 28, 1991: The public being searched before going through a metal detector at the Burton courthouse.

Drawing 6

August 28, 1991: Judge Dickson with prosecutor Tony Allman at the start of the trial in the Burton courthouse.

Drawing 7

August 28, 1991: A first quick sketch of the jurors at Burton.

Drawing 8

August 29, 1991: Witness [Robert Winters], the guard from whom Legere escaped in the Moncton hospital on May 3, 1989.

Drawing 9

August 29, 1991: Cst. Dan Pugh and Cpl. Bill Dickson of Chatham. 

Written under the second figure: Dickson carried Nina Flam to car; she asked for his coat. 

Written along the left side of the paper: Const. Dan Pugh, policeman who found Nina Flam, house fire.

Drawing 10

August 29, 1991: Tony Allman and the clerk, Gerald Pugh, listening to video.

Drawing 11

August 29, 1991: Weldon Furlotte, Bill Kearney, and Allan Legere.

Drawing 12

August 29, 1991: Witnesses at the Legere trial in Burton.  On the left is Harry Preston.  The bottom figure is ambulance driver Fred Petrie. [The man on the right is believed to be firefighter Tony Lloyd.]

Drawing 13

August 29, 1991: The jury. The image shows the young male juror who was later expelled, Jeffrey Moorcraft, in the back row on the far right.

Written at the right: hair sample in glove not the same as Legere, facial not same 10-15 others. 

Drawing 14

September 3, 1991: The courtroom with maps showing the Flam women’s home and store.

Drawing 15

September 3, 1991: The jury with maps.

Drawing 16

September 3, 1991: Image from a video of the crime scene/fire, with the date AM 11:28, May 27, 1989.

Drawing 17

September 4, 1991: Miramichi police officer Cpl. Leo Roy, prosecutor Jack Walsh, Judge Dickson and clerk.

Drawing 18

September 4, 1991: Bill Kearney and Allan Legere.

Written at the top right corner: Kearney Legere Burton.

Drawing 19

September 4, 1991: On the left is Nurse Marjo Palmer. On the right is Dr. Gerard Losier. Both stayed with Nina Flam when she was brought into the hospital.

Drawing 20

September 5, 1991: CBC, Burton press and public.

Drawing 21

September 5, 1991: Judge David Dickson.

Drawing 22

September 5, 1991: Nina Flam being sworn in by Gerald Pugh.

Drawing 23

September 5, 1991: Nina Flam during her testimony.

Drawing 24

September 5, 1991: Defence counsel Weldon Furlotte, with Nina Flam.

Drawing 25

September 5, 1991: Nina Flam explaining where the store in which the fire and assault took place was on the map.

Drawing 26

September 5, 1991: Written at the bottom: Nina said she sat at the bottom of the stairs confused, which is where they found her in the burning building.

Drawing 27

September 5, 1991: Nina Flam testifying.

Drawing 28

September 5, 1991: Nina Flam in cross examination.

Drawing 29

September 6, 1991: Dr. John MacKay, expert pathologist, explaining about when Annie Flam’s jaw was broken. On the right is Dr. John Smith, an expert from Ontario who agreed with Dr. McKay.

Drawing 30

September 6, 1991: [Melvin Vincent,] a fire expert from Saint John. On the right is Lawrence Clark, a furnace expert.

Drawing 31

September 6, 1991: Two witnesses, including Rita McKendrick, a young woman who recognized Allan Legere.

Drawing 32

September 9, 1991: Lloyd Hannah found glasses. At the upper left is Joe Ivory. On the right is Wendy Ivory. 

Written at the upper left: Joe Ivory saw a man running low and fast. A bag was taken, and a day earlier there was meat missing from their freezer. 

Drawing 33

September 9, 1991: Cst. Kevin Mole with the glasses found by Lloyd Hannah near the new lumber where he was building a deck.

Drawing 34

September 9, 1991: Witness Michael Sproule saw a man in the woods. On the right is John Smith, a friend of Nina Flam’s daughter.

Drawing 35

September 9, 1991: Image shows where the camera would be on the ceiling; the view is from where reporters and Carol Taylor sat.

Printed across the top in caps: Criminal pleadings & practice in Canada, [Ewa]schuk. 

Drawing 36

September 10, 1991: Claude Brunet testified that they were the same as the glasses belonging to Legere.

Drawing 37

September 10, 1991: Graham Sleeth. On the left is Dr. Creighton Marney, the optometrist who wrote the prescription for the glasses that were found.

Drawing 38

September 10, 1991: Cst. Kevin Mole being cross examined by Weldon Furlotte.

Drawing 39

September 10, 1991:  Two witnesses, Gerald March and Kay LeGresley-Johnston, who saw a man at the back of Pizza Delight.

Drawing 40

September 11, 1991: Bill Kearney with Allan Legere before Kearney was sent to sit at the back of the room. Legere wanted to fire him because he saw Kearney coming out of the washroom at the same time as Tony Allman and thought they were buddies and against him.

Drawing 41

September 11, 1991: Jack Walsh and RCMP Cst. Ron Charlebois, who found a document in prison for Allan Legere’s eye glasses.

Drawing 42

September 11, 1991: Tony Allman with Miramichi area maps at the beginning of testimony for the Daughney murders.

Drawing 43

September 11, 1991: Video taken at Daughney crime scene.

Drawing 44

September 12, 1991: Weldon Furlotte, Allan Legere handing a note to Bill Kearney, and a guard.

Drawing 45

September 12, 1991: Dan Sullivan, a Newcastle volunteer fireman, who reported the fire and went around the corner to the fire hall to put on his gear.

Drawing 46

September 12, 1991: Cst. Charles Barter, the first at the Daughney house. On the right is Reginald Falconer who found and brought out Linda Daughney with help from Roy Geikie, another fireman.

Drawing 47

September 12, 1991: The jury examining photos from the murders. They were visibly upset.

Drawing 48

September 18, 1991: John McLean saw a similar man with a gun as Cpl. Robert Bruce who was involved in the chase.

Drawing 49

September 18, 1991:  RCMP officer with the shotgun exhibit and the Newcastle police officer who found the gun and bullets.

Drawing 50

September 18, 1991: Guns found, both with barrels cut off.

Drawing 51

September 18, 1991: Cpl. Gaetan Thomassin and his police dog, Sam, were shot at.  He fell 30 ft during the chase; the dog got away and was called back. Sam had been involved in over 1200 cases.

Drawing 52

September 18, 1991: Allan Legere.

Drawing 53

September 18, 1991: Witness, Allan Legere in prisoner’s box.

Drawing 54

September 19, 1991: Public listening to evidence of Father Smith’s murder.

Drawing 55

September 19, 1991: Cpl. Clairmont Trembley. 

Drawing 56

September 19, 1991: Cst. Joseph Yvon LaFontaine was first to arrive and put up yellow police tape. Sgt. Jacques Ouellette was next and did the first survey of the room.

Drawing 57

September 19, 1991: Going over details of Father Smith’s house.

Drawing 58

September 19, 1991: Video of crime scene (Father Smith’s).

Drawing 59

September 19, 1991: Impression of scenes from the crime video including a boot print.

Drawing 60

September 19, 1991: Witness [believed to be Vincent Pineau].

Drawing 61

September 20, 1991: Nick [Ignatius] Verriker, who helped out at the rectory, had a key and went to check to see why Father Smith was late for mass. He came back calling for someone to call the police, who were there in 5 minutes.

Drawing 62

September 20, 1991: Dr. Basil Blanchard pronounced Father Smith officially dead. On the right is Father Leo Sullivan who gave the last rites.

Drawing 63

September 20, 1991: The jury with a book of photos of the crime scene and area.

Drawing 64

September 23, 1991: Sgt. Victor Gorman. 

Written at the bottom: blood splatter crime scene analysis

Drawing 65

September 23, 1991: Dr. John Mackay explaining causes of death.

Drawing 66

September 23, 1991: Bill Kearney with a guard and Allan Legere.

Drawing 67

September 23, 1991: Cpl. Leo Roy and Cst. Pierre Lefebvre.

Drawing 68

September 23, 1991: The jury with a folder of photos from Father Smith’s murder.

Drawing 69

September 24, 1991:  Weldon Furlotte cross examining Sandy Lumgair [Serology Section, RCMP Forensic Laboratory in Sackville] who wrote a report on September 2, 1986, comparing samples of blood with that of Allan Legere.

Drawing 70

September 24, 1991: Antoine Guitard and Weldon Furlotte with the stolen knife cover.

Drawing 71

September 24, 1991:  Witness with hair samples taken at Father Smith’s. At the bottom is Mr. Duff [Adolphus James] Evers.

Drawing 72

September 24, 1991: Cpl. Denis Robitaille with Graham Sleeth.

Written at the bottom: Boots found *under*, near? car at Keddy’s (refers to Father Smith’s car). 

Written on the left: Searched car found knife 3wk before sent to lab.

Drawing 73

September 25, 1991: The back of Graham Sleeth and profiles of Jack Walsh and Tony Allman with Judge Dickson in background.

Drawing 74

September 25, 1991: Montreal police officer and an interpreter.  In the foreground are photo booklets on the rail in front of the jury.

Drawing 75

September 25, 1991: [Cst. Gerard Lemieux,] the young police officer from Montreal who remembered the name Allan Legere gave, Fernand Savoie. On the left is an interpreter.

Drawing 76

September 25, 1991: [Michael Murty,] the clerk who sold [the train] ticket to Montreal to Allan Legere. He remembered because the man didn’t stand directly in front of him.

Drawing 77

September 25, 1991: Allan Legere showing the tattoo that the police missed.

Drawing 78

September 25, 1991: Bill Kearney at the back of the courtroom on a public bench. He was appointed “amicus curiae”, a friend of the court, when Allan Legere didn’t want Kearney representing him.

Drawing 79

September 25, 1991: Cst. [Walter] Lavigne.  Written on the left: Cst. LeVine called the RCMP.  On the right is Leonard Doucet, a general contractor and fire insurance investigator who was head of the crew working in the pool area of Keddy’s Hotel in Bathurst on November 17, 1989.  Doucet and his crew found the still wet boots and winter coat near Keddy’s where the stolen car was also found.

Drawing 80

September 25, 1991: Cst. Steven O’Neil of Bathurst Police turned the winter jacket and boots over to RCMP.

Drawing 81

September 25, 1991: Father Smith’s car was found outside Keddy’s.

Drawing 82

September 25, 1991: Tony Allman questioning witness Malcom Wilkinson with Weldon Furlotte looking on. Wilkinson found the car in front of Keddy’s.

Drawing 83

September 25, 1991: Cpl. Marc Proulx, the police officer who bought the jewellery from the pawn shop in Montreal.

Drawing 84

September 30, 1991: Found in Montreal, the red ring belonging to Donna Daughney (she had inherited it from an aunt).  On the left is Joe Williams, the son of the truck driver who saw a man with matted hair on a railway bridge on the morning of the Daughney murders.

Drawing 85

September 30, 1991: Mary Anne Geikie, a friend of the Daughney sisters, recognized the rings.  On the left is the pawn shop dealer from Montreal, Morley Thompson.

Drawing 86

September 30, 1991: Kelly Geikie, the daughter of a friend, Mary Anne Geikie, who recognized the rings.

Drawing 87

September 30, 1991: On the left is Diane Wetmore, a friend of Donna and Linda Daughney, who knew the red ring and had tried on the diamond cluster. On the right is Mary Susan Gregan.

Drawing 88

September 30, 1991: On the left is Donna and Linda Daughney’s second cousin, Joanne Johnston. On the right is Deborah Geikie.

Drawing 89

September 30, 1991: The truck driver who thought he saw Legere, [Joseph Wayne] Williams, and his son Joseph Roderick Williams.

Drawing 90

September 30, 1991: Page from the book of crime scene photos showing the boots.

Drawing 91

October 1, 1991: Cst. Greg Davis from McAdam holding an exhibit.

Drawing 92

October 1, 1991: On the left is Richard Walker, the [Canadian National] railway inspector whose partner found the cards under the trestle. On the right is Serge Delarosbil, the railway co-worker who found the cards, with a translator. 

Drawing 93

October 1, 1991: Overall scene with Weldon Furlotte.  Shows the camera on the ceiling used while Allan Legere was put out of the courtroom. In the foreground is a reporter with a small recorder.

Drawing 94

October 1, 1991: On the left is Ron Gomke of Saint John, N.B., the driver of a cab that Allan Legere hailed on November 23, 1989 at 9:50pm to drive him to Moncton. On the right is Cst. Michelle Mercer, whose car stopped for them. Gomke and Mercer got away in Sussex when they stopped for gas at the Four Corners Irving.

Drawing 95

October 2, 1991: On the left is Brian Golding, the truck driver who drove Allan Legere from Sussex in his tractor trailer and was with Legere when he was caught. On the right is Cpl. Gary Lutwick of the RCMP, who captured Legere (with Cpl. Terry Barter.)

Drawing 96

October 2, 1991: On November 24, 1989, at the official roadblock there were six officers.  On the left is [Cst. Linda Dugas,] the officer who identified Allan Legere at the scene of capture. On the right is Cpl. [Ron Godin] examining the sawed off rifle that was still cocked and ready to fire with one shell inside when it was thrown down by Legere.

Drawing 97

October 3, 1991: Cst. Ken MacPhee, one of six at the roadblock. He put the leg shackles on Allan Legere. On the right is a black and white drawing of Judge Dickson.

Drawing 98

October 3, 1991: Cpl. Luc Bolduc of Ottawa, who was cursed by Allan Legere when he arrived. On the right is Sgt. Mason Johnston, Chief of Police, Sussex.

Drawing 99

October 8, 1991: Sgt. Dino Gatto. On the right is Sgt. Dan Chiasson holding the Greb Kodiak boots found near Keddy’s.

Drawing 100

October 8, 1991: Testimony about boot identification by RCMP Sgt. Robert Kennedy.

Drawing 101

October 8, 1991: Tony Allman looking at exhibits, Weldon Furlotte, a guard and Allan Legere.

Drawing 102

October 8, 1991: Sgt. Robert Kennedy’s testimony about the footprints inside the shoes and the rust mark on the heel of the boot as well as the imprint of nail on Allan Legere’s foot mould.

Drawing 103

October 8, 1991: Sgt. Robert Kennedy, an expert in footprint identification, with assorted boot photo documents.

Drawing 104

October 8, 1991: Sgt. Robert Kennedy explaining diagrams in an overall court scene with Judge Dickson, Jack Walsh and Tony Allman.

Drawing 105

October 9, 1991: Sgt. Robert Kennedy on cross examination by Weldon Furlotte.

Drawing 106

October 9, 1991: Sgt. Robert Kennedy and Weldon Furlotte with Judge Dickson in the background.

Drawing 107

October 9, 1991: United States FBI footprint expert, [Special Agent William Bodziak].

Drawing 108

October 9, 1991: Special Agent, FBI, William Bodziak and Tony Allman with boots showing the soles taken off for identification.

Drawing 109

October 9, 1991: Dr. Keith Bettles, P.E.I.

On October 10, 1991, a voir dire had been held to ask for a mistrial over the expulsion of juror Jeffrey Moorcraft because of his connection to Lois Gaunce, Allan Legere’s supposed girlfriend, who became friendly with Moorcraft’s girlfriend Pamela Kellar during October.

Drawing 110

October 15, 1991: 11 jurors (Jeffrey Moorcraft now gone) listening to Dr. John Waye, McMaster University.

Drawing 111

October 15, 1991: DNA testimony, Jack Walsh with DNA diagrams.

Drawing 112

October 15, 1991: DNA testimony, darkened room with prosecutors and slides.

Drawing 113

October 15, 1991: DNA testimony, Dr. John Waye’s diagram explanation.

Drawing 114

October 16, 1991: Weldon Furlotte cross examining DNA testimony.

Drawing 115

October 16, 1991: Dr. John Waye with Weldon Furlotte questioning the “misuse of statistics by FBI/RCMP in forensics”.

Drawing 116

October 16, 1991: Dr. John Waye, Weldon Furlotte, Graham Sleeth and Judge Dickson.

Drawing 117

October 16, 1991: During the DNA testimony. A 16 sq. in. window in mesh and a closed circuit TV in the room so that Allan Legere could watch the courtroom after being expelled.

Drawing 118

October 17, 1991: Dr. John Waye with a laser pointer in a dark room with DNA slides during DNA testimony, and the three prosecutors.

Drawing 119

October 17, 1991: Public seating, all grays (referring to suits worn by experts waiting to testify), DNA testimony.

Drawing 120

October 17, 1991: Dr. John Bowen. 

Written at the bottom: less than 2%. The jury studying DNA graphs.

Drawing 121

October 17, 1991: Dr. John Bowen, DNA expert.

Drawing 122

October 18, 1991: Dr. John Bowen and Weldon Furlotte standing in a dark courtroom with slides.

Drawing 123

October 18, 1991: Dr. John Bowen with Weldon Furlotte cross-examining.

Drawing 124

October 18, 1991: Eleven member jury during DNA testimony.

Drawing 125

October 21, 1991: Image of Allan Legere peeking out through the cell window to watch the courtroom on a TV during DNA testimony.

Drawing 126

October 21, 1991: Allan Legere in holding cell.

Drawing 127

October 21, 1991: Second view of Allan Legere in holding cell watching DNA proceedings in the courtroom on CCTV.

Drawing 128

October 21, 1991: Dr. Kenneth Kidd, DNA witness for the Crown.

Drawing 129

October 22, 1991: Dr. Kenneth Kidd, considered the foremost expert in the world on DNA.

Drawing 130

October 22, 1991: Court clerk Gerald Pugh distributing folders to the jury and Dr. Kenneth Kidd in the background with charts.

Drawing 131

October 22, 1991: Dr. Kenneth Kidd in cross examination by Weldon Furlotte.

Drawing 132

October 22, 1991: Complete scene with Judge Dickson, Gerald Pugh, Graham Sleeth, Jack Walsh, Tony Allmanand Dr. Kenneth Kidd.

Drawing 133

October 22, 1991: RCMP DNA department head, Dr. Ronald Fourney.

Drawing 134

October 23, 1991: Dr. Ronald Fourney, RCMP DNA expert, with Weldon Furlotte listening.

Drawing 135

October 23, 1991: Dr. Ronald Fourney, RCMP DNA expert.

Drawing 136

October 23, 1991: Dr. George Carmody, statistics expert for the Crown.

Drawing 137

October 23, 1991: Judge Dickson and Dr. George Carmody of Carleton University. 

Drawing 138

October 23, 1991: Dr. George Carmody explaining statistics with slides.

Drawing 139

October 23, 1991: Allan Legere with guards in back of the courtroom.

Drawing 140

October 24, 1991: Witness believed to be Catherine Anne Lyons.

Drawing 141

October 28, 1991: Dr. George Carmody with DNA notes.

Drawing 142

October 28, 1991:  Behind the press (center Duncan Matheson, CBC Radio, Rod Allen of the Times-Transcript of Moncton and Shaun Waters, CBC Radio Fredericton on the right) looking toward the jury and Dr. George Carmody.

Drawing 143

October 28, 1991: Dr. William Shields, witness for the defence, with DNA Typing diagrams.

Drawing 144

October 28, 1991: Weldon Furlotte.

Drawing 145

October 28, 1991: DNA witness [believed to be Dr. William Shields].

Drawing 146

October 29, 1991: Graham Sleeth with DNA witness believed to be Dr. William Shields.

Drawing 147

October 29, 1992: Jury listening to the summation.

Drawing 148

November 1, 1991: Weldon Furlotte’s trial summation.

Drawing 149

November 1, 1991: Tony Allman’s summation with Judge Dickson, Gerald Pugh, Graham Sleeth, Jack Walsh and Weldon Furlotte.

Drawing 150

November 1, 1991: Defence summation with all lawyers and the jury.

Drawing 151

November 1, 1991: Audience during the defence summation.

Drawing 152

November 2, 1991: Crown, the end of the trial.

Drawing 153

November 2, 1991: 10:45am with 11 jurors.

Drawing 154

November 2, 1991: Juror Letitia Lancaster being addressed by Judge Dickson.

Drawing 155

November 2, 1991: Judge David Dickson.

Drawing 156

November 3, 1991: The actual reading of the verdict by Letitia Lancaster.

Drawing 157

November 3, 1991: Allan Legere in handcuffs waiting for the verdict.

Drawing 158

Reflection in the glass barrier of CBC news - Carol Adams, reporter, and Ene Vahi, friend of the artist, drawn September 9, 1991. 

Drawing 159

The waiting period. Duncan Matheson, CBC radio, in the center and ATV’s Kate Letterick on the left.

Drawing 160

Detailed drawing of the media while waiting, sitting playing cards on the floor, etc. [the drawing is believed to be in the possession of Shaun Waters].

 


 

Remembering (Memories of artist Carol Taylor)

I had not seen or talked with Ene Vahi for several years but that August we met twice by chance, and later that month I stopped to visit her on the way home from covering a trial in Newcastle.  So, it seemed [like a stroke of] fate that when I needed a place to stay for [the duration of] the Legere trial....it was Ene’s secluded home with it’s serene view of  the Taymouth River that enabled me to live through the testimony of the trial with a degree of calm.

As I look over the drawings and compare them to video of the actual people I realize that many of them look slightly younger than they were.......and that’s because they were drawn from at least 20 feet away.  The media sat in the first row of seating behind a glass and wood barrier, directly facing the end of the jury box which was at a slight angle. Between us and the witness box, were the three lawyers for the Crown, to the far right were the defence [lawyers] and Legere with two guards.

I remember thinking as the jury finally arrived and I made the first quick sketch of them (in the last few minutes before I left for the CBC station), that it would be difficult to see them all......or be able to put all of them in one drawing. I believe it’s that first sketch which only captured about four of the jury with accuracy that Judge Dickson saw and commented on in the book, Terror’s End.

As I document the drawings, reading about the trial and the events leading up to it, looking for correct spellings, making notes, I am overcome by the sadness, horror, revulsion? on the faces of the jurors.........I am sure that the trial affected their lives for many years.

The first person testimony of the trial was emotionally difficult but throughout it all the media maintained their sense of humor to keep a distance.  Once they were told to watch the noise level from the unwrapping of Shaun’s candies..........morbid jokes were told, and recipes exchanged. (Actually the recipes came from Shaun and Duncan....both with small families.)

It was three months of drawing realistically which also affected my own work. It was difficult to return to the series I was working on. I produced a small series of owl like creatures, white on white with realistic vegetables and preserves done with coloured pencils as were the trial sketches.  That was what surrounded me .........Ene’s home was filled with autumn produce as well as plants, art and collectibles....I sent many hand drawn postcards based on her home with its clutter of plants and art to family during that fall.

The sketches were partly finished.....sometimes at noon, ATV would tape them up, sometimes to the ATV van..........give them back and I would drive hurriedly into Fredericton and the CBC office where they were finished and filmed by both the English and French divisions of the CBC.

In the fall of 1998, a film was made by Connection Productions in Moncton of the trial and the importance that DNA played in it.  It was premiered in April of 1999.

CT. (Carol Taylor)

We are grateful to the New Brunswick Law Foundation, the University of
New Brunswick Work Study Program, the UNB EText Centre, and Maritime Law Book Ltd.

for their material support of this project, and to all of those individuals who have
contributed documents, images and personal reminiscences related to this
critical period in New Brunswick socio-legal history.

Copyright Notice

Copyright in all materials on this web site remains with the creators as indicated. Documents are available for non-commercial use, that is, for educational purposes, individual study or academic research, and may be printed or excerpted for such purposes as long as the appropriate statement of copyright is attached. The court drawings are provided for viewing only and may not be downloaded or reproduced at the request of the artist.



Carol Taylor is an Atlantic Canadian artist who has worked figuratively for 15 years.  Bisque and glazed clay have been her primary medium in both flat work and three-dimensional figures.

Born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, she grew up in a rural area of Apohaqui, N.B., then moved to Saint John for three years to study art at the former Saint John Vocational School under Fred Ross and Ted Campbell.

Further training came from night classes with Rosamond Campbell, workshops with Tom Smith (raku), Joyce Weiland, Robyn Wall (printer) and Bruce O'Neil of Saskatchewan.

She received a sculpture commission for the City of Saint John in 1995. The approximately 11' sq. piece is made of 6" sq. clay tiles and is titled The Figurehead; it is installed under the clock on the outside the Germain St. entrance to the Saint John City Market.

Over the past ten years she has been in exhibitions curated by Shirley Bear, Tom Smart, Linda Dornan and Roslyn Rosenfeld.

History Lesson, her solo sculpture show at The Space, ended April 19, 1999, and her last major exhibition was DELTA in 1997 (a three-person show with Suzanne Hill and Pat Schell) curated by Peter Larocque. It was remounted at galerie d'art Universite du Moncton in 1998.

Presently she has given herself the challenge of learning Adobe Photoshop and used it for a piece of work for the June 1999 Gallery Connexion group show (Geography 101).

She is happily looking forward to the opening of the Millennnium Imago Time Capsule of Prints invitational in Moncton, N.B. and updating a web-site set up to honour poet, Kay Smith for The Year Of The Older Person.

In 1998 she enjoyed being the court artist in the Marlee Matlin/Michael Dudikoff film directed by Sidney Furie titled In Her Defense. Also, her courtroom drawings became a part of the History Channel Turning Point documentary, Body of Evidence, by Kevin Mathews about the Burton, N.B. Legere trial.

Further information about the artist may be found at http://caroltaylor.thedrawlyn.com