by Chris Meyers Almey
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 21/97) - One of the jurors in the Roger Warren murder trial may have been biased against the man who was eventually convicted of killing nine miners at Giant Mine in 1992, the NWT Court of Appeal heard Tuesday.

The argument opened the appeal of Warren's second-degree murder conviction.

Three NWT Court of Appeal judges, Mary Heatherington, John McClung and Rene Foisey, listened to arguments by Warren's key defence lawyer, Glen Orris, all morning until breaking for lunch.

The Crown is also appealing the convictions, arguing Warren should be tried on the original first-degree murder charges if the court orders a new trial.

In his arguments, Orris said the juror gives the appearance of bias because she sits on the review board of the NWT Worker's Compensation Board, which had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Warren.

At the time she was sworn in, her position was known and that presented no problem, but Orris said he had not been aware of the lawsuit at the time.

Justice McLung, however, said there was no evidence the woman was a stakeholder in the outcome of Warren's trial.

Orris' other key argument was that Warren was pressured by the RCMP, who interviewed him 16 times and gave him two polygraph (lie detector) test.

Warren was a bundle of nerves, Orris said. Quoting from one of the thousands of pages of evidence and testimony, Orris said Warren was scared and afraid the Mounties were "going to pull a fast one on me or trick me."

That argument was also met with resistance from the bench. Foisey said that, at the end of the day during the last trial, it was agreed that all statements by Warren were freely made.

The Crown is expected to make its case later this week. The original Crown prosecutor, Peter Martin, who is now in private practice in Calgary, has been retained by the Crown as the chief prosecutor for the appeal.

Anyone entering the second floor, main Supreme Court courtroom in Yellowknife's courthouse must walk through a metal detector and then be screened by officers using metal detecting wands.

Security measures like these have not been seen in Yellowknife since Warren's trial and sentencing came to an end in a guilty verdict and life sentence in late January, 1995.

Inside the courtroom, a few Mounties constantly watched the spectators as did the sheriff and one of his deputies, while Warren sat behind bulletproof glass.

Most of the time, Warren attentively sat with his hand to his chin, a finger across his mouth, wearing a dark suit and showing no emotion.