The decision by the Mass Casualty Commission to shield Lisa Banfield, the common-law spouse of the gunman, from cross-examination has once again shaken faith in the inquiry among some of those most closely connected to it
into that tragedy will finally testify Friday about what she saw and heard before and during the attack that left 22 people dead.
Ms. Banfield will only answer questions from the commission’s counsel, not from lawyers representing families of the gunman’s victims. That has angered inquiry participants who say there are inconsistencies in previous statements she has made to the commission’s investigators. “To say they are extremely upset is an understatement. This is not what they expected. This bears no resemblance to what we told them an inquiry would be,” said Michael Scott, whose Halifax firm Patterson Law represents 14 families of victims. “They’re largely ready to wash their hands of this commission.”
Mr. Scott says the idea that families’ lawyers are incapable of cross-examining Ms. Banfield without berating her on the stand or further traumatizing her is offensive. Many of the questions his clients want answered are focused on the story Ms. Banfield told police after the mass shooting. In particular, they want to know how she freed herself from the handcuffs she said the gunman put her in and how she managed to survive a night hiding in the woods in sub-zero temperatures wearing nothing but a T-shirt and yoga pants, he said.
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