Laura Babcock murder trial Day 3

Court ended at the lunch break today; the judge told the jury the evidence was ahead of schedule and the trial may end before December 22. The main evidence today came from a 21 year old who used to buy drugs from Mark Smich.

Desi Liberatore was 14 when he first met Mark Smich, he was hanging out front an Oakville convenience store with friends waiting for someone of age to buy them cigarettes. When Smich first approached he was in his early 20’s and gave them his phone number so they could call him whenever they needed cigarettes. Later they would go to his house when they wanted marijuana, and would occasionally hang out in Smich’s garage.

The last time, in the summer of 2012, they were smoking marijuana and drinking peach schnapps in Smich’s garage and he played them a rap video we saw in court on Monday and we heard after that Smich asked his girlfriend to leave, then told the friends that the song was about an actual murder.

More than a year later Liberatore was arrested for stealing sunglasses and told police about Smich’s apparent confession. He said it helped him in court on the theft charges.

Liberatore admitted he is addicted to opioids and Smich’s lawyer spent considerable time questioning his memory and his credibility. Dellen Millard, representing himself at this trial, had a few questions for Liberatore, they met several times in passing at Smich’s house but didn’t really speak.

Tomorrow we expect to hear from another of Liberatore’s friends who was in the garage when the video was played. We heard the friends found the apparent murder confession very odd and spoke about it often after.