New Oland manslaughter search warrant details to be released

New Brunswick's chief provincial court judge has ruled additional information should be released from the sealed warrants in the year-old Richard Oland manslaughter investigation.

Chief Judge R. Leslie Jackson released his decision on Friday morning.

"I have concluded that the police have not demonstrated a serious and specific risk to the investigative integrity of the Oland manslaughter investigation; indeed their position is based on vague and general assertions of risk," Jackson stated in his 20-page decision.

"Other than the issue of hallmark evidence, which I did deal with later, there has been no legal basis established for most of the redacting sought to be retained, such as the names and statements of persons who are neither suspects, persons of interest or subjects of search warrants."

But information about the physical position and condition of Oland's body, as well as the condition of his office and location of any of his personal effects should be redacted, the judge ruled.

The reason, he said, is that it is "hallmark evidence…which only the killer or killers would know."

The documents will be released on Oct. 5.

Jackson has spent the past month reviewing nine sealed search warrants and related documents in the case.

Oland, a prominent businessman, was found dead in his uptown office on July 7, 2011.

Saint John police believe the 69-year-old was murdered, heavily redacted search warrant documents released by the court last month reveal.

Seven of the warrants were released on Aug. 16, but they were heavily redacted.

The blacked-out documents do not mention the cause of death, whether any weapons were involved or name any suspects.

CBC News and the Telegraph-Journal are seeking to have some of the blacked-out information released, along with two other search warrants.

Lawyers representing members of the Oland family have been fighting to keep the documents sealed.

Search warrants are normally public documents.

More to come

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