Flirting with justice
November 29th, 2024
Brian O’Neill (at right) examines the 1990s true crime case in which Vancouverite Gillian Guess served as a juror during a high-profile, first-degree murder trial involving six gang members in The Twelfth Juror (self-published $45.00).
Taking her oath in the BC Supreme Court, Guess swore to deliver a fair and impartial verdict. However, as the trial progressed, her behavior began to attract attention writes O’Neill. Known for her animated giggles, flirtatious smiles and increasingly provocative demeanor, Guess fixated her attention on one of the accused, Peter Gill, a charismatic and seasoned gangster.
O’Neill describes how Guess’s behavior escalated, turning heads both in the courtroom and in the media. At one point, writes O’Neill, Guess was seen to raise her legs provocatively on the courtroom rail to catch Gill’s eye. Her antics fueled a mutual exchange of flirtation, and O’Neill concludes that Gill recognized an opportunity to manipulate a juror for his benefit.
Gill and Guess’s connection, charged with sexual tension, became the center of a scandal that would ultimately shake the Canadian legal system.
The Twelfth Juror book jacket
After the jury delivered a “not guilty” verdict, allowing all six accused gang members to walk free, an anonymous tip to the police revealed the affair between Guess and Gill. The revelation was shocking because it later transpired that their relationship had begun during the trial itself. This breach of juror impartiality led to criminal charges against both Guess and Gill. The scandal not only tarnished their reputations but also exposed significant flaws in jury selection and management in Canada.
O’Neill’s narrative delves into this illicit affair and its dramatic consequences, portraying it as a cat-and-mouse game of manipulation, power and betrayal. The case serves as an example of how personal misconduct can undermine the integrity of the justice system; the case also has had a lasting impact on courtroom procedures in Canada.
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EXCERPT
Gillian Guess pulled her mail out of her four-by-four-inch square mailbox slot and glanced at what appeared to be a large assortment of junk mail. Sorting through it, she began to determine what was going to make it to her apartment and what would end up in the blue recycling box. She fingered a brown standard envelope with interest. It bore the embossed Vancouver Courthouse insignia on the upper-left corner, with an 800 Smythe Street address. Gillian then entered the small apartment where she lived with her two children, her son Adam and her daughter Alana. Guess put her university books on the kitchen table and hurriedly opened the brown envelope. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bold typeface print that read, ‘Juror Summons.’ Directly below this heading, she read the following:
Jury Duty-Criminal
You have been selected to participate on a jury panel and may be chosen to serve as a juror on a criminal trial. Your name was chosen from the British Columbia Voters List. Your participation is a legal obligation. The right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers is a cornerstone of our society and is one of its oldest institutions.
It exists to protect individual rights and to involve the community in the administration of justice. You have been summoned for a two-month period. Jury selection will take place on the date that you have been summoned to appear. On that date, you may be selected to serve on a jury. Most criminal juries sit for two to ten days. Court hours are typically from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you are not selected, you will be required to attend a second jury selection at some time during the following months.
After reading the criteria, Gillian hurriedly filled out the form. She hoped she might be chosen. Her first thought was that if she could sit on a jury, she could use it as an excuse to get out of classes, essays and assignment deadlines at Simon Fraser University, where she was pursuing undergraduate studies. At the bottom of the form, she indicated in pen, ‘I am not disqualified from being a juror for any of the reasons listed on the back of this form.’ She signed and dated the form, then placed it in a white envelope to mail back the next day. At that moment, Guess had no idea of the impact this action was to have on her destiny.
Upon receipt of her completed form, a Vancouver Court staff member contacted her with instructions to attend jury selection at 800 Smythe Street on February 27, 1995, at 10:00 a.m. Guess was hopeful that she would be selected for jury duty ever since she had received her official notice. Now, she was determined to be chosen and began to strategize toward this new objective. She treated it as though it were an interview for her dream job.
On the big day, she decided to dress like a consummate professional. She chose a two-piece grey power suit, a white oxford button down shirt, and for the feminine touch, petite gold ring earrings. She felt they complemented her dark brown hair. Guess was a lively, intelligent and attractive woman and, not surprisingly, she had a lot of male admirers. She cared a great deal about her appearance some would say to the point of obsession. She stood before her mirror, wondering nervously what the judge and lawyers would be like and hoping that they would like what they were about to see. She was apprehensive yet excited about the jury call and curious about what it would be like to be on a jury.
When Guess showed up at the courthouse for her appointment, to her dismay, she saw that hundreds of other prospective jurors had also shown up in compliance with their jury summons. The scene looked like a massive audition call. Guess followed the sheriff’s instructions and got in line with the rest of the potential jurors waiting to have their juror summons processed. Later, she would state, ‘I was both shocked and dismayed when I saw the hundreds of people milling around waiting for the process to begin. I was suddenly faced with the reality that my chances of being selected for jury duty were indeed slim, a thought that I found disheartening after weeks of anticipation.’
A sheriff eventually bellowed out instructions for the prospective jurors to follow him, and like a herd of cattle, they followed along. Guess assumed that they were heading to the courtroom and thought it would be to her advantage to get to the head of the large crowd. So, when the sheriff ushered them into Courtroom 55, she maneuvered herself into the front row. There, she felt she could view the proceedings clearly and perhaps impress those who were selecting jurors by appearing alert and aesthetically pleasing.
Guess listened attentively while soaking up the impressive array of authority that was assembled in front of her. She was aware that she was confident, attractive and fashionable by her own high standards. She compared herself to the other potential jurors. To her, the vast majority were very casual—if not sloppy—and some bordered on the absurd. She could not comprehend how people could display their eccentricities in a formal venue, but she later discovered that this was a common ploy to avoid being selected. She sat patiently in her seat, pretending to read a research article, but really trying to assess the cast of players in front of her. As she knew nothing about the trial, she didn’t realize that six of these players were the defendants, all of whom had a say in the selection of the jurors.
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