A former police officer who killed his lover and stuffed her remains in a garbage bin made a "mockery" of the justice system during his long legal saga, Ontario's highest court said Wednesday as it denied the man's bid for a new trial.
Richard Wills, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 2007, said he was not prepared to provide the Court of Appeal with any evidence. He argued he was mentally unfit and wanted an adjournment to challenge a Feb. 10, 2010, court decision not to grant him a publicly funded lawyer for Wednesday's hearing.
Mr. Wills, who was representing himself, said he believed he needed the court to grant him permission to seek an appeal at the Supreme Court. He said he couldn't do that until Wednesday because it was the first time he was back in court.
Crown attorney Michal Fairburn said she sent Mr. Wills detailed information on how to seek an appeal with the country's highest court in the days following the February 2010 ruling.
"I didn't understand a lot of it," said Mr. Wills, dressed in a blue long-sleeve shirt tucked into blue jeans with messy, greying hair and shackled ankles. "It doesn't say how to do things."
Mr. Wills, a former Toronto cop, led the justice system on a bizarre five-year journey from his arrest in 2002 to his conviction for first-degree murder in 2007.
Justice Michael Moldaver said Wednesday that Mr. Wills made a "mockery" of the justice system by hiring and firing a number of lawyers, shouting at court employees and taunting the trial judge to declare a mistrial. He called it an "18-month ordeal" but ultimately said Mr. Wills received a fair trial.
Mr. Wills was once a millionaire, but he systematically divested himself of his assets, then ran up a $1.2-million legal bill to Legal Aid Ontario and the Ministry of the Attorney General. The government is still trying to recover the money. Last year, the Appeal Court denied Mr. Wills more taxpayer funding for his appeal.
In court Wednesday, Mr. Wills also claimed a prison psychologist in Kingston, where he is serving a life sentence, determined last week he was too unstable to represent himself in court.
But when asked for documents to back it up, he had none.
The adjournment was quickly denied on the basis Mr. Wills had nearly a year and a half to seek an appeal and no documentation was provided to support he was unfit.
Mr. Wills was asked to proceed with his submissions, which was supposed to be a list of 35 grounds of appeal ranging from bias to mistreatment during his 18-month trial for the murder of his longtime lover Linda Mariani in 2002.
"I'm not in any position to proceed today," said Mr. Wills.
Mr. Wills was asked a number of times by Mr. Moldaver if he was going to make submissions but he refused, despite being warned by the court it would be his only opportunity.
After a one-hour break, the panel denied Mr. Wills a new trial.
Several members of Ms. Mariani's family attended the hearing and embraced one another afterwards. They declined to comment.
None of the Mr. Wills' challenges were filed in court but Ms. Fairburn had prepared a "detailed and helpful" factum outlining the Crown's position, said Mr. Moldaver.
Mr. Wills and Ms. Mariani carried on a nine-year affair but when she refused to leave her husband, the one-time traffic cop hit her in the head with a baseball bat and used a skipping rope to strangle her, according to the Crown at the trial.
Mr. Wills then stuffed her body in a garbage can before sealing her behind a wall in his basement for nearly four months, the Crown said.
Mr. Wills eventually turned himself in to police and said he only hid Ms. Mariani's death because he loved her.
He said her death wasn't a murder but an accident, and claimed she fell down the stairs and smacked her head on the ceramic floor.
Scared, he panicked and entombed her body.
The jury took just over a day to find Mr. Wills guilty.
Mr. Wills can still seek an appeal with the Supreme Court on the basis he didn't receive a fair hearing because he was refused a lawyer.
The Canadian Press