Crown to finish closing arguments at Rafferty murder trial, Wednesday
Posted May 9, 2012 02:30:28 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LONDON, Ont. – The Crown continued to deliver its closing arguments, Wednesday, at the murder trial of Michael Rafferty, accused of killing eight-year-old Tori Stafford.
Michael Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping in Stafford’s death on April 8, 2009.
Terri-Lynne McClintic, the star witness at the trial, is already serving a sentence for first-degree murder in the Stafford case after pleading guilty at in 2010.
**Warning: details of this case are graphic**
Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey stressed to the jury that the trial is about Michael Rafferty’s guilt, and not Terri-Lynne McClintic’s character, while he lead the jury through evidence McClintic mentioned in her testimony.
Gowdey listed off 25 specific pieces which can independently be confirmed by other pieces of evidence, including how Tori was killed, what type of hammer was used and landmarks around the murder scene.
Looking at McClintic’s confession to police on May 24, 2009, Gowdey questioned why she would lie about it being Rafferty who killed Tori, after already making herself look so cruel and inhumane.
During testimony at Rafferty’s trial, she said she was the killer, but the crown has questioned why she would make that up to begin with.
Gowdey has also suggested that McClintic killed Tori at Rafferty’s urging, who picked McClintic because he knew she was violent. The crown has also discussed post-offence conduct, suggesting Rafferty kept in close contact with McClintic while she was in detention to maintain control of the situation.
As the trial near the end, the next step will be for the judge to give final instructions to the jury before deliberations get underway.
Reporter Laura Carney is in London for the trial. Follow her tweets from the courtroom live, below.
On Tuesday, Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey suggested Rafferty led the events of April 8, and that the accused and Terri-Lynne McClintic were in the crime together.
Both Rafferyy and Mclintic had missing posters of Stafford in their homes, which Downey called a cold-blooded and calculated way for the two of them to cover their tracks.
Gowdey told the jury that Rafferty used McClintic as a “violent pawn” to help him carry out his “evil intentions.”
The defence has suggested that Rafferty’s girlfriend McClintic, who has a very violent past, was the one who planned the whole thing and that Rafferty had no idea the little girl would be killed.
Gowdey told the jury there are several ways a person can be found guilty of first-degree murder, including killing someone in the course of a kidnapping or helping someone else commit a murder.
McClintic, who is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, testified that Rafferty urged her to kidnap a young girl for him, that he raped the girl, and that pent-up rage from her own childhood traumas caused McClintic to snap and murder Tori.
That testimony marked a change from what she told police for years — that Rafferty was the one who killed Tori with a hammer.
It doesn’t matter whether the jury thinks McClintic physically killed Tori or if Rafferty did it, Gowdey said. If they acted together, that is enough to convict Rafferty.
Rafferty muttered to himself, shook his head and rolled his eyes several times while listening to Gowdey’s closing address, mostly when Gowdey discussed the rape allegation.
After the killing, Rafferty took deliberate steps to cover his tracks and lied to police, Gowdey said. When Rafferty was first interviewed by police on May 15 after his name came up as an associate of McClintic’s, he told them he barely knew her.
He attempted to throw police off his trail by repeating rumours about Tori’s mother, though he could have just as easily said a “raging homicidal maniac” is responsible and pointed police to Tori’s body, Gowdey said.
One of Rafferty’s most telling actions after April 8 was buying hair dye for McClintic once surveillance video was released showing her leading Tori away from school, Gowdey said.
“Why would a horrified witness who was an innocent dupe of Ms. McClintic take the steps to make the real killer change her appearance?” he said.
After the Crown finishes its closing remarks, the judge will give the jury what are expected to be lengthy final instructions before they begin to deliberate.
On Monday, Rafferty’s defence lawyer, Dirk Derstine, gave his closing argument and called into question the credibility and reliability of McClintic, who has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case.
Derstine told the jury that Rafferty was there when Stafford died from blows to the head with a hammer, and he may have even come to realize at some point in the two-and-a-half hours the little girl was in his car that she was being held against her will.
The rest, he scoffed, is a fiction invented by a troubled woman who “perjured herself over and over and over again.” McClintic, who has a proven history of violence and torture ideation, was the true engine behind Tori’s death, Derstine said.
The kidnapping was not orchestrated by Rafferty, there is no objective evidence that Rafferty raped Tori as alleged, and he is not the one who wielded the hammer, Derstine suggested. For McClintic to testify otherwise is “absurd,” he said.
McClintic testified that Rafferty urged her to kidnap a young girl for him, that he made several stops before driving to a rural location and raping the girl, and that pent-up rage from her own childhood traumas caused McClintic to snap and murder Stafford.
That testimony marked a change from what she told police for years — that Rafferty was the one who killed Tori with a hammer — but Derstine suggested that is the one part of her story that should be believed.
For the first time since Rafferty was arrested and charged in May 2009, his mother, Deborah Murphy, spoke out Monday, and said she believes her son is not guilty.
She said McClintic has ruined their lives and that the situation her son finds himself in could happen to any man out there.
“I just hope that justice is served and that he’s free,” Murphy said outside court.
