by Lise LaSalle
Convicted murderer and former Toronto police officer Richard Wills killed his former girlfriend Laviana Mariani in February 2002, and was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2007. He had desperately tried to delay justice and in 2004, he was even assessed by a psychiatrist in the hope of being declared not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder. Instead of answering Wills’ prayers, the mental health specialist had determined that he was suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder and that he knew he was doing wrong when he killed his lover.
Laviana had been found face-down in a garbage can hidden behind a basement wall in Will’s home in 2002, and he was the last person to have seen her alive. She had been bludgeoned and strangled to death.
It takes a very troubled mind to attack and murder a former lover in an unprovoked fit of passion, and in the case of Richard Wills, his whole persona and character did not seem to have many redeeming qualities. Instead of presenting a contrite front, his behavior was always shrouded with sarcasm, repulsive actions and total disregard for the well-being of others and for the figures of authority he tried incessantly to antagonize.
During his pre-trial and trial in Newmarket, Ontario, our killer cop kept grossing out courtroom observers. He frequently interrupted proceedings by loudly passing gas and belching and once brought things to a temporary halt by reaching into his pants and pulling out feces.
He had made a practice of urinating in the police car used to drive him to court every day from the jail.
When he was particularly disruptive, Justice Michelle Fuerst would confine him to what court observers called “the rubber room,” a special
area where he could see court proceedings on a special screen but not disrupt them. During his trial, Wills repeatedly lashed out at Fuerst with sexist comments and ridiculed one of his lawyers with a racist epithet.
He fired five lawyers during his publicly funded case, which dragged through the system for more than five years. He also threatened from the prisoner’s box to punch out prosecutors Harold Dale and Jeff Pearson.
While in jail during his trial, Wills had a very difficult rapport with other inmates in his ultra-high security wing. Famous inmate and biker Frank (Cisco) Lenti would repeatedly heckle him to the delight of other inmates. A 25-year police veteran is never welcome in prison, but Wills’ repulsive behavior and the fact that he killed a woman was not earning him any favors on the inside.
In fact, when Wills ended up at Kingston Penitentiary after having been found guilty, he managed to disgust the staff and the high-security inmates so much that he was transferred to another prison. Two sources said that whatever he did in his maximum-security cellblock was disturbing enough to depress his cellmates Paul Bernardo and Colonel Williams.
Wills and Bernardo were neighbors in the same segregated range of the penitentiary, along with Russell Williams, former commander of CFB Trenton who was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for two sex murders.
According to Corrections Canada, Wills was transferred to a maximum-security facility in B.C. for a ‘’fresh start.’’ They probably celebrated when he left because solitary confinement prisoners in Kingston were kept in 2.5 by 3 meters cells and could talk but not see inmates in adjoining cells. So his loud singing, ‘feces swinging’ habits and flatulence fetish must have made him too close for comfort.
Wills was found guilty but he testified that Mariani, 40, died in an accidental fall in his Richmond Hill home. According to him, he panicked and decided to put her in the wall to keep her close to his heart. After all, she was the love of his life.
When they met, they were both married and after 6 years of togetherness, Wills decided to divorce his spouse, but when Mariani reneged on the deal to leave her husband, he smashed her head with a baseball bat and choked her with a rope.
Sgt. Craig Vaughan who had interviewed Wills when Mariani disappeared because he was the last person to have seen her alive on Feb. 15, 2002, had found “his behavior was bizarre. She had only been missing 1 1/2 days, her car was still missing and there was nothing medically wrong with her. But he was crying uncontrollably,” Vaughan said, testifying at Wills’ first-degree murder trial.
“He took off his clothes so that I could check his person, to ensure there was nothing. He took off his shirt, pants, his shoes and started to take off his underwear. I told him to stop,” Vaughan recalled. “He was trying to take charge of the investigation.
He said “help me, clear me and then I’ll help you in every way I can.”
Vaughan said Wills, who came to York police Richmond Hill station directly from his 14 Division shift, referred to the “brotherhood of police officers probably 30 times” during their chat.
Vaughan then quoted Wills as saying: “Whatever you do for me, I’ll do for you 10-fold.”
It was pretty obvious that he thought that his status as a “law enforcement officer” would dig him out of that hole and allow him to escape justice. “Wink Wink Nudge Nudge”. But he had underestimated the honesty of his colleagues who did not let him off the hook.
Pleading not guilty because of an accidental fall would not do the trick, so he became more creative in his efforts to stop the wheels of justice in their tracks. He started by pointing the finger at Mariani’s husband: “Our plans were that I would get my divorce done first and she would wait six months to a year, and then move out on her own,” then into Wills’ home, the court heard.
Vaughan asked if anyone, aside from Wills’ ex-wife, who left him eight months earlier, and her father who was accused of making threatening phone calls to Mariani, disliked her.
“No. I don’t want to point any fingers, but why didn’t he (her husband) call,” Vaughan testified, quoting Wills.
It led him nowhere so he proceeded to delay justice differently. Before his trial, Wills liquidated his assets and transferred most of his money to his wife and three children before applying for Legal Aid.
After representing himself during his preliminary hearing, a court ordered the province to allow for special funding so he could obtain legal representation.
He ended up with 13 lawyers, including seven who were publicly funded, two “friends of the court” and one who worked pro bono, according to a 2008 report by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. Three of his attorneys were paid for privately.
Mr. Marin referred to the case as “a perfect storm of mischief” and “misjudgment”.
Among a sea of allegations, the law society accused his attorney, Mr. Hamalengwa to deliberately overbilling the government by nearly $145,000 for his work on the case.
As if it was not crazy enough, Wills reached out to National Post reporter, Joseph Brian through voice-mails to ask him to visit him in jail. He thought he had “what it takes” to help in his defence against this murder charge.
Brian called Wills’ teenage daughter who was acting as a go-between (isn’t it lovely to involve one’s own daughter in this type of legal mess?) and made an appointment to visit him in jail.
He was told that the police were “bum-rushing” him through the legal process and that he was innocent.
It was an offer any good reporter could not refuse in a high-profile case. He had to listen to what Richard had to say. Wills’ antics in the witness box had earned him a national reputation as a callous accused with a pathologically high self-regard, a preposterous alibi, and dubious sympathy for the woman he claimed to love.
But when he called the reporter, he was still an alleged murderer, a police officer no less, and Brian wanted the inside track. Driving toward the provincial facility in Lindsay, Ont., he wondered why Wills had chosen him. Wills had read about Brian in Lawyer’s Weekly. Having already fired several of his own lawyers, he was particularly tickled by the image of bumbling barristers made to look incompetent by an intrepid journalist. In his mind, he was a victim in need of a champion and he saw Brian as a modern Bob Woodward. The relationship was drowning in ignorant, ridiculous melodrama from the start.
Wills, then aged 48, was about six feet tall with dark hair and a greying beard. As soon as he appeared behind the glass in the visitation room, carrying a stack of legal books, he asked Brian to read from a sheet of legal paper, on which he had written in pencil. It read (and please don’ laugh):
WANTED: Person(s) possessing these qualities: 1. The allegiance of a mercenary (each new cause is the only cause until accomplished.)
2. The dedication of a Jesuit priest (burned at the stake for their cause, true to the very end)
3. The tenacity of a wolverine (once the fight is on, the fight ain’t over till it’s over)
4. The elusive intelligence of a Pentium 12 computer (equipped with the wisdom of how to apply such a gift)
5. The longevity of a Timex watch (takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’)
6. The courage of Neil Armstrong (courage of one’s convictions)
7. The ability to discern the differences between right and wrong, with the fortitude to tell the world. If so, please step up to the plate now in the interests of justice.
At the bottom of the page was the following addendum: “Wannabees, falldowns, Judases, rats, weasels, etc., need not apply within, however these persons are of great demand within the York Regional Police Force and the Newmarket Crown Attorney’s office.”
It did not take long for Brian to back out of this uncomfortable interview where Wills could not give him a decent answer to any of his questions about the logistic of the crime itself.
Wills kept talking about building trust, but he was thoroughly evasive on important questions; such as whether he knew anything about her death, or whether he knew what was in the plastic bin when he turned himself in, or why he turned himself in, or if the box had been in his house for the entire four months of her disappearance. (He implied that the box was NOT there when police searched his house on Feb. 17, 2002). He just answered those questions with prolonged silence in cinematic fashion.
When the guards tried repeatedly to end the meeting, he barked at them to leave them alone, but he used stronger language. He knew his rights.
He dropped tantalizing hints about forensic evidence, but never followed with details. He said that when police found Ms. Mariani’s car, there were apparent blood and semen stains in it, and also fingernail clippings, although he did not explain. He also said there were lip marks on the car’s vanity mirror. “Those lip marks are mine,” he said. This detail did not come up in court, and to this day, it makes no sense but if anyone is likely to have kissed a mirror, it is Richard Wills. So that was it for Joseph Brean who left to never return.
Richard Wills’ last bid to delay justice was swiftly denied when an Ontario Court of Appeal panel upheld his first-degree murder conviction in 2010.
Justice Michael Moldaver vindicated the trial judge, Justice Michelle Fuerst, in the decision to deny the appeal, as well as Crown prosecutors, Harold Dale and Jeff Pearson, and the jury for their actions while condemning Wills for “his strategy in delaying and obstructing the course of justice.
“You viewed the court process with disdain and did everything to subvert it and make a mockery of the proceedings,” Moldaver said, speaking on behalf of his fellow judges on the panel, Janet Simmons and Paul Rouleau.
Wills “baited the trial judge” throughout his 18-month trial in a bid to derail the proceedings.
“That verdict is entirely reasonable and supported by the evidence,” Moldaver said in dismissing the appeal. “There has been no miscarriage of justice.”
“You took steps to mislead the police and tried to point the finger of blame at Linda Mariani’s (innocent husband Domenic),” said Moldaver.
But Wills had showed up at his appeal, hoping to delay justice one more time. He had told his inmate hearing panel that he was too depressed to conduct his own appeal of his murder conviction.
Wills, 54, had no proof of his psychiatric condition and his adjournment bid was denied.
Moldaver called it “another futile attempt to delay the proceedings.”
“Thank God, it’s over,” wept Mariani’s mom, Anna Valeri, as soon as the judge declared her long ordeal finally over.
This hunk of burning love will be eligible for day parole on June 7, 2024, and for full parole on June 7, 2027.