by Cliff Derksen
First, two weekends ago, on Friday night I departed to BC to join my wife who was speaking at a Pacific Region Victim Advisory function. We then spent the weekend celebrating my birthday with members of my family and friends. It was a very good time. Had not seen some of these folk for many years.
I used my birthday as the excuse for not blogging that weekend.
Then, as many of you know, during the following week on Wednesday afternoon, at about 12:30pm we got the news that the appeal judges had come down with a conclusion regarding the trial of Mark Edward Grant who'd been found guilty for the murder of our daughter and had been sentenced to life in prison for 25 years without parole. The appeal court ruled for a re-trial as the Judge, in their opinion had made an error in not allowing some apparently relevant evidence before the jury.
Well that shocking result sent us for a loop. We had thought of all kinds of possible responses, including a re-trail, but not for the surprising reason cited.
Immediately we began to get calls from our friends in the media so we suggested they "all" meet us at a press conference at 3pm that afternoon so we could answer their questions all at once. This they did and you can get that on the internet in papers like the Winnipeg Free Press etc. But it took it's toll on us as we had to work out how we felt about all this and how we might communicate that to the media and the world in a matter of two hours.
During and after all this we were trying to let everyone like family and friends know what happened. This of course means conversations and emotions of all kinds.
This week was also "month end" for me, which means payroll, invoicing, plus other business matters like staffing and scheduling that happen all around that.
It was a wild week to say the least. So, that is why nothing has been happening blog wise until now. This morning I was finally able to fine tune some of the wild thoughts that were flying through my head regarding how I might express what I was feeling though my art.
I have some ideas for my next pieces.
During the trial it was lawyer against lawyer. It was DNA expert against DNA expert. Now this ruling by the three appeal court lawyers is three judges against the trial court judge. The drawing above reflects that now It's the "War of the Judges!"
Whether its a trial or an a review before the Supreme Court of Canada it will be several years before it is all over.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. I am holding it all loosely. We are trusting the process. We are wanting the "truth" and if this is what the justice system needs to do to get the "truth" then so be it. Someone greater than me is obviously in charge here and I will just go with it and even possibly get some inspiration for more art pieces. Wow.
By Cliff Derksen