A bizarre twist in a first-degree murder trial saw a Crown witness take the stand, only to confess to the murder in question, saying the man accused had nothing to do with the crime. Randy Desmond Riley, 27, is charged with killing Donald Chad Smith in 2010 with a sawed-off shotgun after Smith was called […]
Murder
Posted inNews + Opinion
Guilty verdict for Jimmy Melvin Jr.
Jimmy Melvin got a not-guilty verdict at a murder trial earlier this year, but today he was convicted of trying and plotting to kill. A Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury in Halifax on Thursday declared James Melvin Jr. guilty of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of Terry Marriott Jr. The charges stem […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Not guilty—what the jury heard in Jimmy Melvin Jr.’s murder trial
“Who’ve you got to testify against me—that’s reliable?” Jimmy Melvin Jr. asked, according to police. “You don’t got no weapon. I know that.” It was 2015 and Melvin was in police booking, again. The infamous Spryfield gangster and convicted felon had been picked up as he pulled into a convenience store on the Bedford Highway, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Defence tries to poke holes in murder case against William Sandeson
As the med-school student’s murder trial finishes its sixth week, lawyers defending William Sandeson have indicated through their cross-examination of Crown witnesses where their strategy might lie for the remainder of the trial. Sandeson’s defence team has indicated it may continue to argue there was an inadequate investigation by police. On May 8, before defence […]
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Is Corey Wright the wrong man?
My blood is my ink / My tears are my tales / I did a couple years in jail / But I shall prevail —rhymes by Corey Wrght AKA Vinny Deniroz He smiled. Big smile. “What you doing after?” It was nudging four in the morning on Saturday, November 4, 2006, closing time at Rain, […]
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Kimber: police chief’s explanation fails
Tom Martin had it wrong, Halifax Police Chief Frank Beazley told CBC Radio’s Information Morning on December 1. In my story for The Coast (November 19, 2009) on the city’s striking number of unsolved homicides, I’d quoted Martin, a respected retired homicide detective as saying: “To my knowledge, the cold case unit has not laid […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Frank Beazley: Setting the Record Straight
It is rare that I write a Letter to the Editor, however, based on the content of the November 19 unsolved homicide article, I feel the need to clarify several points. It is disappointing that the article brought into question the experience and professionalism of our officers, particularly those in the Major Crime Unit. Our […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dead Wrong: Halifax’s unsolved murders
OK, boys…Pack it up…Back to what you were doing…We’re done here… Tom Martin had known it was coming. Call it his experience or—perhaps, more to the point—his boss’s lack of experience. Whatever, Martin had guessed this morning’s outcome even before Bill Hollis, the staff sergeant in charge of major crimes, descended from the department’s executive […]