The second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland in the death of his father, Richard Oland, begins today in Saint John, more than four years after the prominent businessman's body was discovered in his uptown office.

The judge and jury trial is expected to last about 65 days and hear from dozens of witnesses.

Dennis Oland, 46, pleaded not guilty last week, when he was formally arraigned at Harbour Station, which served as a makeshift courtroom to accommodate more than 1,000 prospective jurors on the first day of jury selection.

Richard Oland, 69, was found dead in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011. (Canadian Yachting Association) The Oland family is well-known in the Maritimes. It owns Moosehead Breweries Limited, the oldest independently owned brewery in Canada. Richard Oland left the company in the 1980s, but was an accomplished businessman, who was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for his efforts as an entrepreneur with a social conscience.

Justice John Walsh, of the Court of Queen's Bench, has been brought in from Miramichi to hear the high-profile case.

Fourteen jurors and two alternates were sworn in last week — nine men and seven women.

Normally, juries consist of 12 members, but more are needed in this case due to the length of the trial, which increases the chances someone will get sick or be unable to serve for another reason.

A minimum of 10 jurors is required to deliver a verdict and the decision must be unanimous.

'A-team' lawyers

Richard Oland, 69, was found dead in his investment firm office, Far End Corp., located on Canterbury Street, on July 7, 2011.

Dennis Oland, his only son, was arrested more than two years later, on Nov. 12, 2013, and charged the following day.

The onus is on Paul (P.J.) Veniot, who took over from the lead Crown prosecutor last month, and the other two prosecutors handling the four-year-old case, to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) He was ordered last December to stand trial, following a preliminary inquiry.

Several pre-trial hearings have been held in recent months, but the details about them are subject to a publication ban.

Oland is being represented by Alan Gold, of Toronto, and Gary Miller, of Fredericton.

Retired prosecutor ​Paul (P.J.) Veniot took over as the lead Crown last month after John Henheffer had to step down for health reasons. The prosecution team also includes Patrick Wilbur and Derek Weaver.

"Big murder trials like this, they're pretty rare and it's certainly not junior people doing them," said Nicole O'Byrne, an associate law professor at the University of New Brunswick.

"You've got a really experienced and deep defence team and you've got a prosecutor who's been around a long time. So this is the elite, right? … You've got the A-teams out."

Case will unfold 'bit by bit'

The onus is on the Crown to prove guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt.

O'Byrne says the jurors will be presented with a huge amount of information spread out over a long period of time. She encourages them to take notes and to "look at it as a marathon instead of a sprint.

"Every day there will be new pieces of evidence coming forward and they all go bit by bit into a very large story in front of them," said O'Byrne.

"They should keep their mind open that they're not going to have an 'aha' moment on Day 3. It's going to be cumulative … and then they will, at the end of everything — once they've seen the prosecutor's evidence, once they've heard the arguments from the defence — then they will be sequestered, go into deliberations" and deliver a verdict.

​Oland's extended family has stood by him from the beginning, maintaining his innocence.

About 5,000 people in Saint John and Kings counties had been summonsed for possible jury duty in the case, making it one of the largest — if not the largest — jury pools in New Brunswick history.

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