SAINT JOHN, N.B. — There were long lineups and tight security at a hockey arena in Saint John, N.B., on Tuesday for the start of jury selection in a high-profile murder case involving a well-known business family in the Maritimes.
Dennis Oland, 46, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his father Richard, an accomplished businessman and active community member in the city.
Five-thousand summonses were sent out to people in Saint John and Kings counties to appear for jury duty, but only about 1,000 of those were still potential jurors Tuesday morning.
Line-ups of people waiting to pass through security and to register stretched through the Harbour Station lobby and into the pedway leading to the building.
George Oram, the regional sheriff for southern New Brunswick, said a lot of advance planning had to be done for such a large jury pool.
"It's one of the biggest we've undertaken here in Saint John and we have a lot of staff who have put in extra hours and a lot of effort has gone into this today," he said.
On the concourse of Harbour Station, concession stands were open and people were gathered in groups, chatting.
One end of the floor of the arena was set-up as a courtroom. Prospective jurors were seated in the horseshoe of seats.
Oram said jurors would be broken into smaller groups and given times to attend the courthouse later this week.
"From those groups of prospective jurors that are drawn here today we will be able to obtain our jury over the next coming days," Oram said.
Twelve jurors as well as a number of alternates will be selected.
The trial, which begins next week, is scheduled to last 65 days.
Oland was 69 when he was found dead in his Canterbury Street office in Saint John on July 7, 2011.
The Oland family operates Moosehead Breweries — the oldest independently owned brewery in Canada — although Richard Oland left Moosehead in 1981.
