Smith found guilty again

A jury found former Rainy River District resident Donald Smith guilty on four counts related to making, possessing, and distributing obscene material yesterday at the Fort Frances Courthouse.
A date for Smith’s sentencing will be set on June 18.
The guilty verdict came at the end of the nearly three-week trial, which began May 12.
Smith, who once resided in Woodyatt Township but now lives in Kenora, was found guilty on:
•two counts of making obscene matter (videotapes, and audio and visual representations made by electronic means and stored on a computer);
•one count of possessing obscene matter for the purposes of distribution (audio and visual representations made by electronic means and stored on a computer); and
•one count of distributing obscene matter via a website.
This was Smith’s second trial regarding the obscenity charges, which stem to an investigation by the Fort Frances OPP back in October, 2000.
In late 2002, a jury here found Smith guilty on five charges, including two counts of making videotapes featuring undue exploitation of sex and violence, one count of possessing similar material on a computer for the purposes of distribution, and two counts of distributing obscene matter via a website.
The sentence included a precedent-setting $100,000 fine.
Smith also was ordered to revoke any interest in his website on which the material deemed obscene was available, including any copyrights; not access the Internet nor reside in a place where access to the Internet is available; and not participate, in any way, in any website in the future.
But after the conviction in 2002, the defence appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which was heard in the summer of 2005.
An order for a new trial on four of the five convictions was called, and Smith’s $100,000 fine was reduced to $2,000.
After that, both the Crown and the defence applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
That leave was denied in February, 2006 and, as a result, the order for the new trial on four counts remained.
This was followed by a series of pre-trial applications since May, 2007, with a number of applications by the defence to have charges stayed and evidence dismissed.
These applications were dismissed.
The trial then got underway May 12, with assistant Crown Attorney Kent Saliwonchyk as prosecutor, Kenora lawyer John Bilton representing Smith, and Justice Jack McCartney of Thunder Bay presiding.
During the course of the trial, Saliwonchyk called five witnesses, including:
•OPP Det. Sgt. Scott Gobeil, who presented evidence about the content being sold on Smith’s websites, as well as evidence about the videotapes and other materials seized from Smith’s residence during the investigation;
•retired Winnipeg Police Service Det. Sgt. Brad Doell, who presented evidence of what Winnipeg police found on Smith’s website in January, 2000;
•OPP computer crimes analyst Bob Gagnon, who presented evidence of his analysis of Smith’s computers;
•forensic psychiatrist Peter Collins, who touched on what individuals with psychosexual deviant tendencies would take from the Smith’s websites, and other certain videos and images; and
•Dr. Neil Malamuth, a UCLA psychology researcher who presented his research showing the effects of sexually-explicit or violent media has on individuals.
The Crown closed its case Monday. On Tuesday, the defence elected to call no witnesses.