Dellen Millard and Mark Smich have pleaded not guilty to killing Laura Babcock in July of 2012.
Jury selection got underway at the first degree murder trial in Toronto but some aspects of the case are protected by a publication ban.
31-year-old Dellen Millard of Etobicoke, sat in the prisoner box wearing blue jeans and a fitted jacket over a blue checkered shirt, his long hair fastened in a pony tail, and dark framed glasses on his face. He is mostly representing himself at this trial, but has a lawyer lined up for some arguments.
Two empty seats over in the same prisoner box sat 29-year-old Mark Smich of Oakville, in a white button down shirt and his hair buzzed short. His lawyers are Thomas Dungey and Jennifer Trehearne.
Justice Michael Code told potential jurors today that the two men are accused of killing 23 year old Toronto woman Laura Babcock on the third or fourth of July in 2012 at Millard’s home in Etobicoke. The judge told the court Babcock’s remains were never found, “she has disappeared”.
Smich and Millard are alleged to have taken her body to a farm Millard owned near Kitchener Waterloo and to have burned her remains in an incinerator that was found there.
Jury selection in this case began yesterday and now hundreds of potential jurors have been sorted into smaller groups. They come back early next week to be further whittled down to a final group of 14. The evidence starts October 23 and the trial is expected to be over right before Christmas.
