After almost an hour of legal discussions, Justice Michael Code calls for the jury.

 

Marlena Meneses is in the witness box. 

 

Dellen Millard stands at a tall wooden podium for cross-examination. He uses a laptop.

 

"Hi Marlena," he begins.

Millard, "I smacked your butt once?"

 

Meneses, "More than once."

 

Millard doesn't remember it happening on multiple occasions, he just remembers the one time. He says it was at the hangar. 

 

"You gave me a dirty looking, so I knew you didn't like it. It was unwanted contact... Sorry Marlena."

 

She maintains eye contact, "thank you."

Millard asks Meneses if she pays her rent, buys her own food and cigarettes.  "I'm sorry I'm having a hard time to find if this is relevant," she says.

 

Millard responds and says that's up to the Crown to decide.

 

Justice Michael Code interjects, and agrees with the witness. 

 

Millard continues, "Back then, you didn't have a job."

 

She says at first, she didn't. But then she got one at Metro.

 

Millard asks who bought the marijuana she smoked. 

 

"I worked for the weed. That was my payment," she responds.

 

Millard points out he bought the fast food.

Millard points out Smich and Meneses stayed at an apartment he owned, they didn't pay rent. The deal was they would paint another unit he was renovating.

 

"I never told you the walls had to be scrubbed because they smelled like smoke?" He says he had to pay for a professional clean job. She wasn't aware. 

 

He changes topics, and brings up a time she helped him with a job he couldn't figure out.  A small engine repair, she'd taken some courses.

 

Millard, "Felt good to do something I couldn't?"

 

Meneses smiles widely, "It felt amazing."

 

This gets a big laugh from the courtroom.

Millard tries again, "Despite the teasing, you learned a lot from me?"

 

Meneses answers, "Oh I learned a lot from all of this."

 

Millard, "I functioned as Mark's shield, didn't I?
 

Meneses, "I guess. If that's what you want to call it?"

 

Millard, "I mean, if Mark did anything you didn't like, it was my fault."

 

 

 

 

Millard brings up an iPad - one that Mark got in the summer of 2012.

 

Meneses said Friday Mark got the iPad after she saw the incinerator in use. Millard questions her on the date, asking if she's certain, because there are selfies of her from before that date (court has heard evidence the incinerator was used July 23, 2012 -- the night the Crown alleges Babcock's body was burned). He says the selfies are from July 6, 7, 8 of 2012.

 

"My recollection could be wrong."

 

About the iPad, court has heard it was Babcock's iPad, given to her by her former boyfriend Shawn Lerner. It was re-named Mark's iPad after Babcock's alleged murder, which the Crown contends happened July 3, or July 4, 2012. 

Millard now asks Meneses about the testimony she gave Friday about when she saw the co-accused "test" the incinerator.

 

She recalled the summer night at Millard's farm, when Millard and Smich told her to stay in the car, listen to music and leave them alone. 

 

Millard says she used the word "they" -- who said which part, he asks?

 

Meneses, "I don't remember who said what, just that you both said 'stay in the car, don't look back, keep your headphones in.'"

Millard shows two photos to Meneses - a pair of her pink and black gloves found by police at his farm.

 

Now we see what Millard calls "an old school gun." 

 

She saw it at his house, sitting on his bed, she says. She wanted to go to a shooting range. 

 

Millard, "I'm going to suggest you're wrong about that. Agree or disagree?"

 

Meneses, "Disagree, strongly."

Millard asks Meneses about a "tricky scale."

 

Justice Michael Code asks for a definition.

 

Meneses explains it's a scale that doesn't weigh accurate. She said it was Mark's scale. And she added to it when selling marijuana to friends. 

Millard, "Marlena, you've told a lot of lies under oath, haven't you?"

 

Meneses responds, "yes."

 

That concludes his cross-examination. 

 

Justice Michael Code calls for morning recess. We're back in about 15.

Millard now finishes.

 

Mark Smich's lawyer, Thomas Dungey, is up. He talks about her meeting Smich at Tim Hortons. "It was love at first sight, for both you?" 

 

She agrees.

Dungey tells the court Smich bought her food, clothes, and encouraged her to go back to school (she had dropped out, so had he). Dungey says Smich wanted Meneses to finish Grade 12, because he hadn't.

 

"You were infatuated with him?" Dungey asks. She agrees.

 

Dungey, "You didn't think Mr. Millard was a good influence on your relationship?"

 

Meneses, "Right."

"It's not normal two people always being together, it's bound to cause friction?" Dungey says.

 

"Correct," the witness responds.

 

Dungey switches to Smich's rapping. "He was rapping all the time? The story-telling type?"

 

Meneses agrees. 

 

"It's common for him to use the word bitch," Dungey says, which is common in "certain youth groups."

 

"Yes," Meneses says. 

Dungey now takes the witness to her testimony about The Eliminator.

 

"It was not uncommon for Mark and Millard to tell you to go off on your own? That wasn't unusual," Dungey says.

 

Meneses agrees. 

 

Dungey "They weren't saying 'get away from here, get away from here?'" 

 

Meneses agrees. They told her they were testing it. 

 

 

Dungey, "You come to court, yoo come to tell the truth. You've admitted at times you did lie, right? But you're telling the truth today?"

 

Meneses, "Yes."

 

Dungey, "The iPad was given to you by Mark and Millard?"

 

Meneses, repeats, "yes."

 

Dungey is done. 

Lots of questions from readers about Mark Smich's demeanour during his ex's time in the witness box.

 

For almost the entire morning, he's been typing on a laptop. He's got a word document open, and is continuously typing. I haven't seen him look at Meneses.

Marlena Meneses is done in the witness box. 

 

The Crown calls the next witness, Julie Gallie. She's a community recreation programmer, from Claireville Conservation Area, a job she's held since 2012.

 

She knows Christina Noudga. Noudga was a staff person at the centre in 2012. 

They hung out about four or five times a week. Michalski says they often spent time at Millard's home in Etobicoke. 

 

Michalski lived at Millard's house for a time, about six weeks in the spring of 2013.

 

Lockhart points out Mark Smich, "who's that?"
 

Michalski, "Good friends with Dellen Millard."

 

 

Lockhart now asks about Babcock.

 

Michalski, "He used to be her girlfriend..." he catches himself as he misspoke.

 

He says they were on and off for awhile. 

 

Lockhart asks if Babcock and Millard dated before or after Noudga.

 

Michalski, "Before and during... they would hook up." 

Crown Lockhart takes the witness through his phone number and email at the time. 

 

He also asks about nicknames they used: Millard was Dell. Michalski went by his last name or Kowalski.

 

Lockhart now pulls up a photo of Millard's home in Etobicoke. 

Michalski talks about the parties at Millard's - drinking, smoking. A handful of people would stay at Millard's at any given time.

 

His father, Wayne Millard, was there, but didn't spend time with the young people.

 

 

Crown Lockhart goes back to questions about Babcock.

 

Michalski says he hung out with Babcock once, at her parent's house. They weren't home.

 

"I wanted to hook up with her."

 

They watched a movie, and she told him about her "mental health."

 

 

Crown Lockhart asks Michalski about "friction" between Millard and Babcock. 

 

Michalski, "Dellen and Laura were still hooking up, and Dellen and Christina were a thing now."

 

Texts between Millard and Michalski, May 4, 2012.

 

Millard: "if you could keep me updated on where Laura goes to thatd be of use to me"

 

Michalski "Lolz I'll try"

Beyond this, Michalski says he never spoke to Millard about Babcock's disappearance.

 

"I never had a conversation... nothing."

 

Crown Lockhart asks, why not?

 

"Just cuz we didn't think highly of her at that time."

 

Michalski says Millard shared the same opinion of Babcock - Crown Lockhart asks what he means.

 

MIchalski, "Just because of the bad blood between them."

 

Crown Lockhart finishes questions. 

 

We're on the afternoon break. Back in 15 minutes.