Suspicion | The Billionaire Murders: The hunt for the killers of Honey and Barry Sherman - Two Down, One To Go

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Chris is out on bail leading up to the trial. Toronto Police show up at his house one night. They end up assaulting his father, arresting his brother, and not long after Chris’s bail is revoked when... a new charge is laid against him. Marjorie, Chris’s mom, overhears police officers give an ominous warning about the men in her family and she goes into high gear – she’s in the fight of her life against Toronto’s finest. Then comes another bombshell. That young police officer with the gang information says Chris is the leader of a dangerous gang called “The Hustle Squad.” A gang so mysterious, no members of the elite police Guns and Gangs Squad has ever heard of them.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Suspicion, season four, is brought to you by Havelock Metal, quality metal roofing and siding. Yeah, beating them up, right? So I was out there and the female officer said, get back inside the house or I'm not going to arrest you too. It happened just before midnight on a Tuesday, two months before the trial of Chris Sheriff Enowet Asfaha. Six uniformed Toronto police officers arrive at the home
Starting point is 00:00:27 of Marjorie and Lloyd Sheriff, Chris' parents. Chris' inside on-house arrest had been for two years. This was around the time that prosecutors were assessing the gang information Officer Nasser had dug up from two confidential informants. We thought it was Chris. They came for him. Lloyd, Chris's father, gets off the couch and walks slowly to the door.
Starting point is 00:00:54 He'd been dealing with some health issues at the time. There are two police officers on the porch, others grouped in a huddle on the lawn. One asks his name. When he says Lloyd Sheriff, an officer grabs him and drags him out onto the grass. A few minutes before, he and Marjorie had been watching the news on TV. Now he's face down on the front lawn. Marjorie yells at a female officer standing
Starting point is 00:01:19 near the front door. Because I said to her, why are you guys beating him up? He's an old sick man. He's sick. He's sick man. He's sick. He's a diabetic. He's sick. Chris, who'd been in the basement with his girlfriend, rushes upstairs.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Through the open door, he sees his father on the ground, being kicked and punched. I'd seen them pull him outside, put him to the ground, punch him. One person was stomping on his back. One person was kicking him. One person had a knee on his back. Person, meaning police officer?
Starting point is 00:01:45 Police officer, yeah. From the Toronto Star, I'm Kevin Donovan, and this is season four of Suspicion. Murder on Mount Olive. Episode seven, two down, One to Go. In the last episode, I told you how the faltering case against Awet Asfaha and Chris Sheriff was shored up. A young police officer had emerged with two confidential informants.
Starting point is 00:02:20 They said Chris was the leader of a Jamestown Crips gang called the Hustle Squad, and Awet was putting in work to join the Crips by doing drug deals. In this episode, I want to tell you what happened as lawyers for both sides were preparing for trial. And you'll hear some information that really gave me pause. Was I making a mistake taking on Chris Sheriff's case? First, his dad's story. So that day I was in the basement and I heard a big commotion upstairs. That's Chris Sheriff speaking to me in Collins Bay Institution where he's serving a life sentence for the murder of Kim Gollop.
Starting point is 00:02:59 So I came upstairs and I seen officers at the door. At this point, Chris has been on bail and under house arrest for two years. Police showing up at the door was not unusual. The Toronto Police bail compliance unit frequently checked to make sure he was home. The officers were always friendly and polite. This was different. I see them outside punching and kicking, holding them down, telling them to stop resisting. But they're not resisting. They didn't do nothing.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Chris and Marjorie, his mom, are both standing at the open front door. They're worried about Lloyd. He's a diabetic and has a thyroid condition. But they're even more worried about leaving the safety of their house. So at one point, after I realized what was happening, because they said they wanted Chris to come outside, and I said, Chris, don was happening, because they said they wanted Chris
Starting point is 00:03:45 to come outside. And I said, Chris, don't go because they know they just want you to come outside. They're going to arrest you. Chris doesn't want to breach his bail. He's supposed to stay in the house unless he has a doctor's appointment or a court appearance. But he loves his dad. He's torn. Marjorie picks up her cell phone, then thinks better of it.
Starting point is 00:04:04 What do we do? I was going to call 911. I go, no, there's only going to be more police come to beat him up. Lloyd is handcuffed, led to a police cruiser, bent over the car's hood and patted down. One of the officers walks up onto the low porch and in through the front door. I told the officer to get out the house. The officer retreats, but he says something on his way out. A light bulb goes off for Marjorie. This must be a case of mistaken identity. A horrible one.
Starting point is 00:04:45 Police aren't looking for her 58-year-old husband, Lloyd Senior. They're looking for their 25-year-old son, Lloyd Jr., who came home a few minutes earlier. Because my other son was driving and they stopped him. Lloyd Jr., Chris's older brother, had been a soccer star like Chris. In fact, it was Lloyd Jr. the international scouts noticed first. But recently, Lloyd Jr. had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. That night, he'd apparently been in a car accident.
Starting point is 00:05:21 By this, Lloyd Jrina was getting sick and they stopped, they stopped him and they asked him for his driver's license and his insurance. He gave them both and then they turned to him and said they went back to the car and went back and said, oh this is a bogus insurance, we're gonna take your car car. That's what he did wrong. Just to be clear, there was no small child hurt. No small child involved at all. In fact, nobody was hurt. What the officers said to Chris was untrue. Still, Lloyd Jr. shouldn't have driven off after police threatened to impound his car.
Starting point is 00:06:02 For Chris, this entire episode was just another example of Toronto police harassment and abuse. He grabbed him out of the house and it's like, I'm in a position where I'm a hostress. I'm seeing them beating up my dad and they're telling me to come outside and they know I'm not allowed to come outside. And on top of it, they're saying that he hit a kid
Starting point is 00:06:20 and that wasn't even true. His brother, Lloyd Jr., had been in and out of the house during the commotion. Oddly, police were not approaching him, even though by this time they must have figured out that this was the Lloyd they were looking for. Once Lloyd Sr. was taken away in the back of a police car, Lloyd Jr. joined his brother and mother
Starting point is 00:06:41 in the front hallway. Marjorie goes into high gear. They took him off the way to the station and crucified him when we mother in the front hallway. Marjorie goes into high gear. They took him off the wire to the station and crucified him when we were in the house. It was like, and then they denied it. They charged him with assault, resisting the arrest. She gets on the phone and tries to reach a lawyer
Starting point is 00:06:58 at the firm representing Chris in the murder case. Meanwhile, Lloyd Jr. is pacing back and forth. Chris could tell his brother was highly stressed. He'd be known to hurt himself when he gets like this. And Chris is trying to ask him, tell us what happened. Tell us what happened. And Chris have him sit beside him and say, tell us what happened. And he was out of it.
Starting point is 00:07:19 At one point he picked up a bottle and bleeds. Before he could swallow, they get the bottle away and calm him down. Then Marjorie heads to the police station to see about getting her husband released. He'd been charged with assaulting police, assault, and resisting arrest, though the only one bruised and hurt that night was Lloyd Senior.
Starting point is 00:07:40 Over the next few months, the criminal case against him winds its way through court. Prosecutors try to make a deal. Twice they came in the morning in the courtroom. In the court, Labien said, oh, first we plead guilty with 12 months, whatever. Then next time, no guilty plea, just 12 months. Marjorie said she felt like the Toronto police were out to get her family.
Starting point is 00:08:03 It's not that Marjorie hates police. In fact, she has nothing but good things to say about the bail compliance cops who used to check on Chris during his house arrest. You know, like, really nice policemen. Nice, nice men. Respectful, everything. But this latest incident rocked her. First it was Chris on first-degree murder charges, then her husband's arrest, and this car accident involving Lloyd Jr. The story of what happened is murky.
Starting point is 00:08:38 According to police statements in a subsequent court action, an officer in a patrol car spotted Lloyd Jr. making an unsafe turn. He pulled over Lloyd Jr., checked his documents, and told him the car's insurance wasn't valid. According to the officer, Lloyd Jr. then drove off, bumping into a parked car on the way. Lloyd Jr. was later charged with dangerous driving. Rather than have a trial, he pleaded
Starting point is 00:09:06 guilty. Marjorie said her son just wanted to get on with his life. By the way, I asked Marjorie about the insurance. She said it was valid, but this happened so long ago she no longer had the paperwork. In the other incident from that night, when Lloyd Sr. was charged with assaulting police, he wanted a trial. During one of the court appearances, Marjorie saw some of the officers from that night
Starting point is 00:09:36 chatting in the hallway. They were in a huddle, glancing over from time to time. I overheard a police officer that was involved in his case at the courthouse. They were all talking. And one of them looked at the other one and says, two down, one more left to go. As in, the two boys down, the dad left to go.
Starting point is 00:10:01 But then we said, no, we're going to trial. Marjorie was one of the witnesses. And we went to trial. I went and I told the judge exactly what I said and I will never forget it until I die. Only two of the six officers testified at the trial. I've got the transcripts. Their story was that in their pursuit of Lloyd Jr., they politely knocked on the sheriff's door.
Starting point is 00:10:24 And Lloyd Sr. was irate and belligerent. And then out of the blue, Lloyd Sr. hit the police. The judge didn't buy it. After a three-day hearing, he tossed out all charges against Lloyd Sr. And the judge didn't believe them, and he was found not guilty. The judge found serious issues with the credibility of the police.
Starting point is 00:10:48 After the judge made his ruling, the sheriff family filed a lawsuit. The Toronto police, apparently deciding they'd do no better at a civil trial, settled the case. Lloyd Senior was given a financial payout. You may have noticed that he didn't speak to me about this incident or disclose the amount of the settlement. That's because under the terms, police could sue to recover the settlement money if Lloyd talked about it. As an aside, I think those terms which are typical of police and many other settlements
Starting point is 00:11:20 are wrong-headed and I'd like to think they wouldn't stand up in court. But I understand the family's concern. They don't have a lot of money, and what they have left over after living expenses goes to Chris's defense. Today, so many years later, Marjorie remains terrified of the Toronto police, so terrified that she moved her family out of Toronto. We had to run out of W moved her family out of Toronto.
Starting point is 00:11:45 We had to run out of Wrexdale because of this. I moved in 2013. I couldn't stay there anymore. It was like hell. I asked the police for comment on all of this. They didn't say much. Stephanie Sayer, a spokesperson for the Toronto police, sent a short statement in response to my detailed questions.
Starting point is 00:12:06 She wouldn't agree to come on the podcast, so I've asked a voice actor to read the statement. While we appreciate your interest in revisiting these cases, both the criminal proceedings and the separate civil matter were resolved through the courts over a decade ago. As such, we have no plans to re-examine either of these matters. We'll be right back.
Starting point is 00:12:40 Whether it's for your house, cottage or building, make your next roof last with Havelock Metal. Havelock Metal has been specializing in steel roofing, siding, trim, and accessories for over 30 years. Visit HavelockMetal.com to request your quote today. As awful as the assault and arrest of Lloyd Senior was, Chris' case remained the sheriff family's number one concern. His lawyer, Christopher Hicks, was confident he could paint a glowing picture of his client at trial. This young guy going to school, living with a nice family, living in a sort of a questionable area of town, but not a bad area of town. And he was a tremendous soccer player, football player.
Starting point is 00:13:30 He had real talent. Coaches and educators wrote letters of support. One came from Nick Savino, the head of a cooperative education at Chris's high school. Savino wrote to the court saying that, though Chris struggled, he pushed through, submitted all required assignments, and then completed the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program in the field of carpentry.
Starting point is 00:13:52 I was very proud of Christopher's achievement when many did not believe he would be able to succeed, Savino wrote. Letters like these helped get Chris released on bail pending trial. His lawyer, Hicks, told me he now thinks that was a mistake. More opportunity for trouble when someone is not behind bars. Yeah. And it always messes up. It seems to me that there's always a downside to it. I don't know why, but it just doesn't work out. Under the terms of his bail, Chris had to stay in his family home under house arrest,
Starting point is 00:14:29 but his friends could drop by. Yeah, yeah, the friends that came over to visit. Marijuana was still illegal in Canada at this time, and Chris, he doesn't like beer, so he smoked with some buddies. He's doing drugs. Girlfriends were allowed to visit too. You know, he gets the girl pregnant. In the two years Chris was on bail,
Starting point is 00:14:48 he fathered two children with different women. Lawyer Hicks saw the perfect picture he wanted to paint fade. On a visit to Chris' prison, I asked if he had any regrets. No, I look at that, those are my blessings. Like, I don't look at them as a request, I look at that, those are my blessings. Like, I don't look at them as a regret. I look at them as a blessing. Everything that happened when he was on house arrest would eventually be raised at the murder trial as an example of a young man who made bad choices.
Starting point is 00:15:16 It ruined the image of him as this nice young black kid, you know, teenager, youngest guy, you know, athlete, up for Canada's team, you know, Canada. That's what I was trying to sell, and that got sort of sullied up my way through. His daughter was born in March 2011, a year after he made bail. His son, from a new relationship, was born in February 2012. She and the baby were with him in the basement the night his father and brother were arrested. I asked Chris if he'd been planning to have kids at such a young age and while facing the possibility of spending life in prison.
Starting point is 00:15:53 No. It just happened. It just happened. Okay. I don't want to pass judgment on someone in his early 20s doing what Chris did. These were consenting relationships. His friends coming over and smoking weed, the terms of his bail didn't prevent him having visitors.
Starting point is 00:16:09 But given that he was fighting for his freedom, these weren't the best choices. It would all come up at trial, and Chris didn't deny any of it. No, they tried, they bring that up. They bring it up, oh, look at him. Like they tried to judge me, oh, look at him. He had two kids, well, it's just like,
Starting point is 00:16:27 anything they can do to bash me, they tried it. Everything. Something much more serious that would be raised at the trial was his involvement in the Hustle Squad. But there's quite a bit more to that story. In the last episode, I told you how Constable Amman Nasr's sources told him that the Hustle Squad was a dangerous street gang and Chris was the leader. I asked Chris about that.
Starting point is 00:16:53 It wasn't a gang membership. It wasn't, oh, we're going to sell drugs or we're going to buy guns or we're going to do this or we're going to do that. It has nothing to do with any of those things. Nothing. So what was the Hustle Squad? So it's more of a sports term. So there was a term of like, like me, like I was always quick.
Starting point is 00:17:17 I was good at defense. I get a lot of skills. I get a lot of, I run up and down the court. The Hustle Squad was what they called the fastest players on their high school basketball team. And it was the unofficial name of their summer team. Hustle is a sports term. Coaches are always looking for a player who's got it,
Starting point is 00:17:35 like LeBron James. Warriors racing. James running it down and deflects it, goes diving over the first row. Right hustle from LeBron James. I talked to a friend of Chris's. They went to high school and played summer basketball when Chris wasn't on the soccer pitch or working.
Starting point is 00:17:53 The friend asked that I not identify him. He's got a wife and kids and said he doesn't want his name out there on the internet connected to a story about a murder and gangs. But he was pretty clear on the Hustle Squad. When he and Chris and some of the other guys would enter a tournament, that's the name they'd use. If they'd had the money, they're going to make jerseys.
Starting point is 00:18:13 We're going to put our names and we're going to put like Hustle Squad on it. The Hustle Squad is an example of how something can get twisted, molded really, to fit a theory. The same thing happened with the photo you heard about in the last episode, the one Constable Nasser's sources provided him. Chris in the center, everyone dressed in black, 10 young men in total, aged 18 to 20.
Starting point is 00:18:36 Chris said when he heard the officer testify, he couldn't believe it. He said, this picture's a gang picture. He said that everyone in this picture is a gang and it's called Huffle Squad. So what's the photo all about? It was a get together, it was a funeral, and it was taken.
Starting point is 00:18:54 A school friend of Chris's, Daniel Asarfo Adjei, was shot dead in Fort McMurray, Alberta. To put the timeline in perspective, this was a year before the Kim Gollop shooting, when Chris was starting his last year of high school. After Daniel's funeral in Toronto, Chris said someone decided to take a photo. I'm not a picture person. I don't take pictures.
Starting point is 00:19:15 So when he's like, he's like, let's take a picture so we know, at least have a picture that we can see for later on in life. Chris said it was innocent, but he agrees the guys look pretty stern. He said they were sad at what happened to Daniel, a case that remains unsolved. Yes, some of the guys in the photograph are making hand gestures that could be gang signs. You can see the photo if you go to our show website.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Were they serious or joking? Chris said he doesn't know. He wasn't making any hand signs. I tell him, I've seen white businessmen making signs like that in photos, clowning around. Chris said he's seen stuff like that on the internet too. But he said their race mattered when the photo was shown in court. If we were black and we took that picture, it wouldn't be considered a gang picture. It wouldn't be considered anything.
Starting point is 00:20:08 That's Chris's side of the story, and it makes more sense to me than what came out at trial. If the Hustle Squad was a dangerous street gang, I don't think they'd be taking photos of themselves, much less passing them around. And I'm pretty sure the Toronto police would have had the Hustle Squad in their files if it was a real street gang. Jeff Haskell is a lawyer who handled one of Chris's
Starting point is 00:20:31 requests for a federal review of his case. He's got some strong thoughts about the Hustle Squad and how it was used. It was a gang that nobody had ever heard of before the trial, no one heard of after the trial. I am 100% sure that, or 99.99% sure that it's a complete fabrication, either by the confidential informant or the police,
Starting point is 00:20:58 or in conjunction, the police and the informant working together to come up with this thing. Haskell prepared a lengthy brief to the Federal Justice Department. He knows the case inside and out. Still, that's a strong accusation. Now, the reason I know that the gang doesn't exist is because if they did exist, the police and the crowd would have presented a wheelbarrow full of evidence about the gang and its existence. I put Haskell's allegation to Amman Nasser, the former Toronto police officer who force in Western Canada, spoke to me earlier in my investigation, and said he stood by his testimony.
Starting point is 00:21:50 Given how strong this allegation from Haskell was, I went back to him for comment. This time, Nasser responded with a written statement through his force's Public Relations Department. Inspector Nasser has advised me that he respectfully declines your offer to comment about a case that has been upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Now, none of Nasser's statements changed Jeff Haskell's belief. And he raises a great question.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Why was there nothing in the police files about the Hustle Squad and Chris Sheriff? Because these kind of things are meticulously detailed by the police. You heard of all the carding stuff. I mean, the length that the police went to collect information was extraordinary. No such evidence was presented at trial. Just the police officer's testimony about what his informants said. I think it had an enormous impact on the jury.
Starting point is 00:22:48 There's something else that would have an equally damaging impact on the defense. A tale I found shocking when I first heard it. Something that happened one year before the Kim Golub case. An allegation involving trespassing, a samurai sword, and a stabbing with Chris Sheriff at the heart of it. It's the sort of event that makes people say life is stranger than fiction. We'll be right back. I grew up in the renovation business.
Starting point is 00:23:28 If I wasn't a reporter, I would have been a builder. And I know quality is key. So whether it's for your house, cottage, or building, make your next roof last with Havelock Metal. Havelock Metal has been specializing in steel roofing, siding, trim, and accessories for over 30 years. Visit havelockmetal.com to request your quote today. My name is Misha Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N-N,
Starting point is 00:24:02 and I'm a criminal defense lawyer. A lot of lawyers represented Chris Sheriff. Misha Felpen had the most success. He has wavy brown hair framing a tan face with startling blue eyes. When I met Misha at his office, it was summer. He was wearing tan shorts and a white linen shirt. He's got a busy caseload,
Starting point is 00:24:21 but he looks like a guy who spends as much time outdoors as possible. Some calls, you get a great case., some calls you get a terrible case. And the terrible cases are usually a combination of bad facts and people who are hard to deal with. Bad facts usually are very serious cases with minimal defenses. Hard people are a lot of the time, a lot of my clients have mental health issues.
Starting point is 00:24:53 Misha said Chris Sheriff was different. But Chris is not one of those people. Chris is kind of the other, another kind of client, right? He's not, he's got supportive family. He's, I remember him being a particularly talented soccer player. But he's got a supportive family. They came to the trial, I'm at the trial that I did.
Starting point is 00:25:17 His mom, his dad, his sister. He got involved when he was a young lawyer working for Christopher Hicks. As Hicks was preparing for the murder trial, he got a call from Marjorie, Chris's mom. Right after police arrested Lloyd Sr., they showed up and arrested Chris on a new charge, aggravated assault. It was related to an incident back in 2008, the year before the Kim Gallup murder. This meant his bail was revoked. It was bad news for the defense team. Chris would now be in the prisoner's dock at the murder trial, not sitting at a table with his defense lawyer. Misha, who represented Chris in what became known as the Samurai Sword Case, picks up the story. There was a stabbing. Chris was 17 at the time, almost 18.
Starting point is 00:26:09 So was the other person involved. Under Canadian law, people of this age caught up in the court system normally can't be identified. I have Chris's permission to use his name, and I'll call the other person William to protect his identity. This all happened at William's apartment. He was at home.
Starting point is 00:26:27 There was a group there that didn't want him. He didn't want them there. Chris, according to him, was part of the group. There are conflicting accounts, but as far as I can determine, William didn't like Chris and his friends being there. William decides he's going to do something about this. He leaves and thinks it's a good idea to get a samurai sword from his mom's place.
Starting point is 00:26:51 William gets the sword and comes back. And he's walking around with the samurai sword being sort of threatening. And then there is a fight, clearly, at some point. When I first heard this story, I had a lot of questions. Why does William's mom have a samurai sword, for starters? I never did get an answer to that one. What I've been able to piece together
Starting point is 00:27:12 is that William tries to get them all to leave his place, and he takes a swing at Chris with his sword. There's a fight. Chris picks up a knife that was lying around. William is stabbed in the altercation with a small, curved-bladed knife like a carpet knife. The other guys have already taken off. Chris leaves, too.
Starting point is 00:27:32 I ran home. They got scared. I ran home. I ran straight home. When police arrive, they follow a trail of blood from the upstairs hallway and find William. He's in bed. Not in bed.
Starting point is 00:27:43 On the bed. At the bedroom. At the bedroom at the top stairs. Kind of a landing bedroom. He's there. He's got guts hanging out. I can't remember who called police. Somebody did. And there's a big puddle of blood at the top of the stairs.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Among the officers on scene is Constable Amman Nasser, the young officer who will several years later bring forward two confidential sources with information about gang ties. I asked Nasser if he remembers being there. He said he was there, but didn't have a role in the investigation. It sounds familiar that I went there and maybe
Starting point is 00:28:24 didn't see the security, but I was not an investigator anyway. That struck me as quite a coincidence given the role Nasser would play in the murder case just before it went to trial. It got me wondering if this samurai sword case led to one of those debriefs by Nasser and maybe hooked him up with a confidential source who would help him later. Nasser said no way. His attendance really was a coincidence. William, the guy with the sword, was hurt pretty badly. Part of his intestine was poking out of the gash in his stomach. He's rushed to hospital. Doctors operated and he made a full recovery.
Starting point is 00:29:09 When police asked William who he got in a fight with, he said he only had a nickname. And that's the only evidence, if I remember, that he was actually there. There was this mention of hits. That name meant nothing to the police in 2008. It wasn't in their database. Chris and his lawyers say that's because Hitz was simply Chris's nickname around home and on the soccer field. Still, William was right.
Starting point is 00:29:38 It was Chris Sherr he'd had the fight with. Here's a portion of my interview with Chris about this fight. And were you for the next couple of years waiting for the police to knock at your door? Yeah, yeah. I was, or even him, to see that guy again. See if he was gonna do something, but like, nothing happened.
Starting point is 00:29:57 Did you know how seriously he was hurt? No, no, I didn't know. I find it hard to believe that Chris didn't know how seriously William was injured. Chris says he took off because nobody would believe that it was self-defense. Now, the timeline can be hard to follow. It took me a while to wrap my head around it. Chris was arrested in the Samurai Sword case just before the murder trial, but the stabbing trial happens the year after.
Starting point is 00:30:29 I asked Misha, given that Chris had already been found guilty of murder and was in prison for life, why fight this new charge? First of all, nobody wants to be convicted of something you didn't do. Then there was Chris saying, hey, the guy came at me with a sword. The real defense was a self-defense and a question of really what happened. Chris was brought out of prison for the trial. Misha laid the story out for the jury based on what Chris told him and the physical evidence dug up by police.
Starting point is 00:31:01 There was no doubt Chris was there. He wasn't denying it. In fact, a glove found at the scene. He wasn't denying it. In fact, a glove found at the scene had Chris's DNA on it. So, my, if I remember correctly, my position was that he, the fight's happening at the top of the stairs, they're going at each other. That's when William is stabbed.
Starting point is 00:31:23 The sheriff decides back to the stairs and can't go anywhere. The jury acquitted Chris of the aggravated assault charge. I think they simply believed Chris was acting in self-defense. When the not guilty verdict was read, Chris's family was with him. The last time he'd been in court, they'd seen him taken away in handcuffs. He'd be taken away again in handcuffs to continue his life sentence.
Starting point is 00:31:49 Still, Misha said it was a good moment. I always stand with my client when the verdict comes in. And I remember Chris being relieved. I remember his mother being very relieved. Now, here comes the twist. The fact that Chris was accused of stabbing William would come up at the Kim Gollop murder trial, though the Samurai sword case wouldn't go to trial for another year. One night in prison, a year into his life sentence, Chris was going over transcripts from the murder trial.
Starting point is 00:32:20 Something jumped out at him. Something that nobody else had picked up on. At the murder trial, he testified that he didn't know Awet prior to the summer of the Kim Gollib shooting. But when he was cross-examined, it was suggested that Chris was a liar. That there was proof he knew Awet well. That Awet's DNA was found on a glove at the samurai sword stabbing scene. That made no sense to Chris. So their stories have a lot of holes where they're trying to cover it up and lie and do a whole bunch of other stuff.
Starting point is 00:32:58 Chris barely knew Awet back then, and Awet certainly wasn't there at the apartment where the stabbing took place. The DNA evidence produced at the murder trial was false. It wasn't Awet's DNA on the glove. It was Chris's. I have the report from the forensic scientists confirming it. So where did this false DNA evidence at the murder trial come from that was used to hold up Chris as a liar, a Toronto police officer's notebook.
Starting point is 00:33:28 The jury heard that and nobody contradicted this evidence, not the Crown or any of the lawyers involved. When I spoke to Chris about this, he just shakes his head. ask the lawyer certain questions and certain things like, like with a post or even, even with the DNA of the dog. I can tell you that. No lawyer wants to plead me. No lawyer wants to plead that that could ever happen. You'll hear more about this DNA evidence in an upcoming episode. For now, with everything I've learned so far, I think it's time to take a fresh look at the events leading up to the murder of Kim Gollum.
Starting point is 00:34:14 Next time on Murder on Mount Olive. So the next morning, when I called home just to make sure everything was okay, my mom told me what happened. What did she tell you? She said they arrested Chris for murder. And I said, what? Murder of who?
Starting point is 00:34:34 She said the one on Mount Olive. Murder on Mount Olive was written and narrated by me, Kevin Donovan. It was produced by Angeline Francis and Sean Pattendon. Our executive producer is JP Fozzo. Additional production by Kelsey Wilson, Matt Hearn and Tanya Pereira. Sound and theme music by Sean Pattendon.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.