VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A Vancouver woman is on trial for obstruction of justice because she allegedly had an affair with an accused killer while serving on the jury that acquitted him.
The trial, which started Monday, is believed to be the first in Canada in which a juror has been prosecuted for a romance with a defendant. It also is believed to be the first trial in which former jurors will be required to testify about their deliberations.
Prosecutors say they have tapes of wiretapped phone calls in which Gillian Guess, 42, admits she had a sexual relationship with Peter Gill while he was on bail during his 1995 murder trial.
After a six-month trial, Gill and five others were acquitted of first-degree murder in the gangland-style killings of two members of a rival drug gang.
Guess has pleaded innocent. In preliminary proceedings last year, she admitted she had an affair with Gill but denied committing any crime.
Prosecutor Joe Bellows said witnesses will recall seeing Guess making frequent eye contact with Gill, 30, during the murder trial and talking to him outside court.
“A witness — not a juror — will tell you that the accused told her that even during the jury deliberations, she received telephone communication from Mr. Gill,” Bellows said.
The prosecutor said six jurors from the murder trial will testify that Guess contended throughout their deliberations that Gill was innocent.
Evidence will also be presented to show Gill called Guess hours after he was acquitted, and that they were seen soon after the trial dancing at nightclubs, Bellows said.