Bradley Barton's seven-week manslaughter trial begins in Edmonton courtroom

An Edmonton jury has been instructed to be "fair, open and attentive" while hearing evidence in the Bradley Barton manslaughter trial overthe next seven weeks.

"You may find the evidence graphic and unsettling," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Stephen Hillier told the jurors on Monday. "We must remain objective and approach our duties without any sympathy or prejudice whatsoever."

The Crown told the jury that Cindy Gladue, 36, died from blood loss caused by a fatal injury to her vaginal wall due toblunt force trauma.

"She bled to death while laying naked in the bathtub," Crown prosecutor Julie Snowdon told the jurors in her opening statement.

Barton was working as a long-distance mover at the time and had come to Edmonton to move furniture. On June 20, 2011, he checked into room 139 at the Yellowhead Inn in west Edmonton.

"He was with Ms. Gladue on June 20and they met again on June 21," Snowdon said.

On the second night, Barton and his co-worker, Kevin Atkins, drank with Gladue in the hotel bar until early the next morning. The three left the bar together and split up as they headed to two different hotel rooms.

"Just before he entered his own room, Mr. Barton asked him if he wanted a piece of Ms. Gladue," Snowdon said. "Atkins declined. Barton said, 'What happens on the road stays on the road.' "

Snowdon said she expects the jury to conclude that was the last time anyone other than Barton saw Gladue alive.

An autopsy later showed Gladue had four times the legal limit of alcohol in her system at the time of her death.

'As if it was any ordinary day'

Barton acted normally the next morning, the prosecutor said.

"He started his morning as if it was any ordinary day," Snowdon said.

Barton went to the front desk in his work clothes and checked out, got a cup of coffee, then went to his vehicle.

When a co-worker slid into the passenger seat, Snowdon said, Barton told him a woman had arrived at his hotel room the night before and asked to use his shower.

"He said he woke up to find her covered in blood in his bathtub," Snowdon told the jury.

The co-worker suggested someone should call 911, so they headed back to the hotel.

Barton told the front desk clerk he had forgotten some papers in his room and asked for a key card to get back into room 139.

He used the room phone to call 911, and repeated the same story about a stranger asking to use his shower.

"Police found her naked and bloody body in the bathtub," Snowdon said. "You will see pictures of the scene and will see for yourself there is no small amount of blood loss."

Jurors spent hours Monday looking at exhibit photos taken at the scene by Edmonton police, including parts of the comforter saturated in blood, along with blood-stained sheets and a blanket.

"The medical examiner will say she died of blood loss caused by an injury to her vagina," Snowdon said. "It perforated her vaginal wall. Her vagina was torn all the way through."

Barton was questioned that day by police on videotape. He told a detective that Gladue had offered herself to him sexually but he had turned her down.

"During the interview he insisted several times he did not touch Ms. Gladue," Snowdon said.

But after he met with police, Snowdon said, the accused told a co-worker a different story.

"He said he fingered Ms. Gladue's vagina and he saw blood," Snowdon said.

Supreme Court ordered new trial

Barton was originally tried in 2015 and found not guilty by a jury. In 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a retrial on a charge of manslaughter.

Justice Hillier told the jurors that in order for Barton to be convicted of manslaughter the Crown mustprove he touched Gladue sexually and intentionally without her consent.

"A major focus of the case is whether the Crown has proved beyond a reasonable doubt whether he engaged her in a specific sexual activity without her consent and whether that specific sexual activity caused her death," Hillier said.