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Dean Penney watched intently, standing and nodding to acknowledge the jury as his first-degree murder trial began in Corner Brook on Wednesday.
Moments later, Crown attorney Kate Ashton told the jury they will learn over the course of the next four weeks that the murder of Penney’s estranged wife was planned and deliberate — and that Penney confessed to her murder on tape.
“You will also see interviews that were recorded with Dean Penney. Three with police officers, and two with an undercover officer posing as a crime boss,” Ashton said. She and Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten are representing the Crown.
“Dean Penney confessed to the crime boss how he killed her, and disposed of the body so that it would never be found,” Ashton continued.
The St. Anthony man is accused of killing Jennifer Hillier-Penney. Hillier-Penney has been missing since late 2016.
The first-degree murder trial of Dean Penney began in Supreme Court in Corner Brook on Wednesday. The CBC’s Colleen Connors has been covering the story since the disappearance of Jennifer Hillier-Penney in 2016, and breaks down what happened on the first day of the trial.
Penney has pleaded not guilty.
Ashton said in her opening remarks that Hillier-Penney was alive on Nov. 30, 2016, and that Dean Penney planned to have her home alone that night so he could murder her.
The Crown plans to call more than 20 witnesses to the stand, and made its first call on Wednesday.
Yvonne Decker, Hillier-Penney’s sister, said she rode with Hillier-Penney in a car the night before she disappeared.
Decker said her sister got a call from Penney that night. She said that Penney seemed upset, and was questioning when Hillier-Penney would be returning to his home.
Decker will be cross-examined on Thursday morning.
Penney will testify, defence says
In his opening remarks, defence lawyer Mark Gruchy called the case a strange one that people might never see again.
He told the jury multiple times to pay very close attention to the evidence that will be presented, and that combined pressures Penney was under made his confession to an undercover officer — in what is known as a Mr. Big operation — unreliable.
“Is what Mr. Penney said to the crime boss, the fictitious crime boss, true? Our position will be at the end that it was not,” Gruchy said.
“It’s a very, very interesting, and frankly, I think, unusual situation.”
Gruchy is defending Penney alongside lawyer Jeff Brace.
Later in his remarks, Gruchy told the jury that Penney will be testifying during the trial.
“He is going to testify. And you are going to hear what he experienced from his end,” Gruchy said.
“[He was] in an atmosphere [of] guns, money, diamonds, fear. All of it…. It’s hard to believe that that’s what happened. And you’re going to hear it.”
The trial’s jury was selected late Wednesday morning from a pool of more than 100 potential jurors. They were asked to write down the names of any police officers they know personally, so it can be checked against the list of undercover officers on the case.
Fourteen people were chosen — six men and eight women — along with two female alternates. The jury will be reduced to 12 when deliberations begin.
The room also included several members of Hillier-Penney’s family.
The trial, being overseen by Justice Vikas Khaladkar, is expected to resume for a half-day of proceedings on Thursday before a break for Good Friday. Proceedings will then resume Monday.
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