MONTREAL—Lawyers for the man accused of murdering a Chinese student and dismembering his body want the media and public barred from his preliminary hearing.
The evidence presented Monday supporting the motion by lawyers for Luka Rocco Magnotta is subject to a publication ban.
Magnotta's legal team, led by Toronto-based lawyer Luc Leclair, argue the only people who should be allowed to remain in the courtroom are the prosecutors, the judge and a court clerk.
They say it's necessary to guarantee Magnotta a fair trial.
Clad from head to toe in white, Magnotta sat impassively and quietly, with his arms folded in his lap. His feet and hands were shackled and he was in a glass box that was sealed off from the rest of the courtroom.
He had pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of Jun Lin last May. The preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence to send him to trial.
His court dates have usually come with a heavy media presence -- and Monday's was no different.
A handful of journalists were able to cram into a high-security room, with as many 30 people in a spill-over room in another part of the courthouse. Some media members lined up before the crack of dawn to get inside.
Photographers and videographers waited inside and outside the courthouse, filming and photographing a prison detention bus as it rolled into the courthouse garage.
Those present at the courthouse included Daran Lin, the victim's father, who travelled from China. He was accompanied by a translator.
A lawyer representing Lin's parents said he supports the media's fight to keep the hearing open.
Justice Lori-Renee Weitzman said she would rule on that request Tuesday morning.
Gruesome discovery
The case began with a gruesome discovery in Cote-des-Neiges last May: A torso found stuffed into a suitcase. Then body parts started arriving in the mail, including at Conservative headquarters in Ottawa. It ended with a human head found in Angrignon Park. All were the remains of Concordia student Lin.
The man accused of his murder, Luka Rocco Magnotta, was arrested in Berlin at an internet café on June 4, 2012 after someone recognized him.
It's a case filled with gruesome details, but Linda Kay, the chair of Concordia's journalism department, said media coverage remains an important part of Magnotta’s story.
“We want to know why, how did this happen? Who could have done something like this? What are the roots of this?” said Kay.
Magnotta lived his life on the Internet, posting pictures, blogging, and some allege, posting videos of him torturing animals.
According to Kay, the case could serve as a wakeup call.
Request to ban public from hearing
“Rather than focusing on the lurid details, I think there's some way to give it context and to look at these crimes that are committed on the Internet,” said the journalism professor. “Maybe that's more of a wakeup call for people that these things are being done on the Internet.”
Magnotta faces several charges, including murder. The preliminary hearing will determine the quality of the evidence.
“The actual function of it is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to justify a trial,” explained Andrew Barbacki, a former prosecutor and now a defence lawyer.
The material discussed in a preliminary hearing is often kept under wraps until a trial has ended, but Magnotta’s request to ban the public and media from the courtroom came as a shock to media lawyer Mark Bantey, who represents many news outlets in Montreal including CTV, who are contesting the ban.
“I'm surprised because I’ve never seen it before, it's highly unusual,” said Bantey. “The reasons being invoked are personal to the accused but they haven't been specified in the motion.”
Another reason could be concern over whether foreign media would respect a ban. Still Bantey argued, not reason enough to exclude the public.
“The judge could ask the foreign media to respect the pub ban and those who refuse the judge has discretion to exclude from the courtroom. That was done in the Pickton trial in B.C.” Bantey said.
Alex West, a reporter from The Sun in London, England has a personal interest in the case: he interviewed Magnotta six months before he was arrested.
“The press should be grown up enough, sensible enough, to respect the orders made by the court,” said West. “For open justice to be deemed to have occurred, it is important that the press be allowed in the courtroom.”
If the case ends up going to trial, Magnotta has chosen to be tried by a judge and jury. But given all the attention, some wonder if he can get a fair trial.
“I think fair minded people are capable of judging a case according to the evidence and that's what's always stressed in a jury instruction,” said Barbacki.
That's still a long way off. Four weeks have been set aside for this preliminary hearing, but Magnotta's trial likely won't start until next year.
—with files from The Canadian Press.
