Magnotta jury watches original images used to create so-called murder video | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Magnotta jury watches original images used to create so-called murder video

Luka Magnotta, right, is pictured with an unidentified man in a photo from a memory card recovered by police and shown to jurors on Thursday Oct. 23, 2014. Jurors at Luka Rocco Magnotta's murder trial saw video clips Thursday of a man bound, gagged and unresponsive with the accused brandishing a saw over him. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Montreal police
Original Publication Date October 23, 2014 - 8:50 AM

CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

MONTREAL — Jurors at Luka Rocco Magnotta's murder trial saw video clips Thursday of a man bound, gagged and unresponsive with the accused brandishing a saw over him.

The video was shot in May 2012 in Magnotta's apartment, where Jun Lin was killed and dismembered a week later.

Three video clips and three photographs of the mystery man, who Montreal police have been unable to identify, are eerily similar to those on a so-called murder video involving Lin.

Jurors previously heard the man appears in the first 53 seconds of the online video.

In one video clip, Magnotta holds a saw near the head of his naked companion as he hovers over him. The man snores away completely oblivious, his arms and legs bound to the bed with rope.

One clip shows Magnotta straddling him, holding the saw and asking him twice if he's OK. Eventually, he appears to struggle, almost as if he's waking up slightly.

He escaped unharmed and the jury previously viewed surveillance video from the building showing the groggy man leaving with Magnotta's help.

Jurors also saw photos of Magnotta and the man lying together, clothed, both seemingly asleep.

Panagiotis Sarganis, a Montreal police computer crimes detective, testified he extracted images from a memory card contained in a camera discarded in the trash behind Magnotta's apartment.

The images and video clips were the original, unedited material used to make the so-called murder video posted online of Lin on May 25, 2012.

Magnotta is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Lin, a Chinese engineering student.

He has admitted the physical acts of which he's accused but has pleaded not guilty by way of mental disorder.

The jury has heard that Lin, 33, was killed and dismembered and that his body contained traces of sleeping and allergy medications.

Before the graphic images were viewed Thursday, Justice Guy Cournoyer warned jurors they'd be seeing original material used to create the online video.

They watched impassively, some taking notes while others kept their eyes fixed on the screens before them.

Much of the material was already seen by the jury when it viewed the "One Lunatic, One Ice Pick" video one week ago.

Magnotta briefly looked up at some images, but largely kept his head down in the prisoner's box as the more graphic ones flashed on the screen.

The video doesn't show's Lin's slaying: he is already dead when the camera is turned on.

The last video image is of Magnotta dropping his pants and using Lin's severed arm to masturbate. In that clip, his face is clearly visible.

Jurors also saw photos of Lin's body in various states of dismemberment and one with his limbs and head piled together in the apartment refrigerator.

The unedited video clips show Magnotta stabbing Lin's dead body repeatedly and defiling the dismembered corpse.

Sarganis testified he was able to determine the dates the images were taken by using the online video as a reference point.

During cross-examination, the jury watched the videos a second time, this time in order. The videos and stills take place over roughly three hours.

Later on Thursday, a Montreal police computer forensics expert testified about two laptop computers seized in connection with the case — one in the trash behind the apartment building and another in Berlin, where Magnotta was arrested in June 2012.

Frank Massa said the computer from Berlin contained images linked to Lin's slaying.

His testimony continues Friday.

Magnotta faces four charges in addition to premeditated murder: criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; mailing obscene and indecent material; committing an indignity to a body; and publishing obscene materials.

Cournoyer told the jury the Crown is expected to wrap up its case early next week, while the defence could start presenting next Friday.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014
The Canadian Press

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