Scott Hutchison, the Crown prosecutor in the trial against Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien, was expected to wrap up his case Tuesday. (Francois Leclerc/CBC)

The Crown prosecution in the influence-peddling trial of Larry O'Brien wrapped up its case against the Ottawa mayor on Tuesday morning after calling its final two witnesses.

The wrap up came shortly before O'Brien's defence lawyers asked Justice Douglas Cunningham to deliver a directed verdict on both of the counts with which O'Brien has been charged.

A request for a directed verdict — which usually means the prosecution has not met the burden of proof for the given charges — could mean that one of Ottawa's most closely followed trials will soon come to a close.

In this case, however, the defence has asked for a directed verdict because it said the Crown misinterpreted the sections of the Criminal Code it used when charging O'Brien in the first place.

David Paccioco, one of O'Brien's lawyers, outlined the defence's position Tuesday afternoon, saying that even if the Crown had been able to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that O'Brien had offered to help Terry Kilrea get an appointment to the National Parole Board, a conviction would be impossible.

That's because higher courts have made it "crystal clear" that the concepts of reward, benefit or advantage under the Criminal Code address material profit only, and don't apply to political office.

The defence said it will hand over volumes of supporting documents and call an expert witness to prove its argument.

Paccioco proposed to the revisit the matter on Monday to give Scott Hutchison, the Crown prosecutor, a chance to review the material.

Reynolds, pollster called to witness box

Earlier in the day, Hutchison called Dmitri Pantazopoulos, a former Tory pollster, and Conservative campaign co-chair John Reynolds.

Hutchison began Tuesday by asking Pantazopoulos about the lunch meeting he had with former mayoral candidate Kilrea on July 18, 2007.

Kilrea, O'Brien's opponent in the 2006 mayoral election, has sworn an affidavit that he received an offer to have his campaign expenses paid and of help getting an appointment with the National Parole Board if he dropped out of the race.

Pantazopoulos said that during that lunch meeting, Kilrea first brought up his $30,000 campaign debt. Pantazopoulos said he had never discussed that debt with O'Brien, who had learned about Kilrea's debt six days earlier.

In the witness box, Pantazopoulos said he was "infuriated" when he read Kilrea's affidavit, where Kilrea says Pantazopoulos told him the parole board offer was "too hot to handle," and would have to be addressed after the election.

"Those words are not in my lexicon," Pantazopoulos told O'Brien's lawyer, Michael Edelson, during cross-examination.

When Pantazopoulos was asked if Kilrea had told him about O'Brien's alleged offer to cover his campaign expenses, he said, "I don't recall him saying Mr. O'Brien offered to reimburse his expenses."

Pantazopoulos also denied ever hearing anything about O'Brien offering to help Kilrea obtain an appointment to the National Parole Board.

"Either he had misinterpreted the conversation grossly," Pantazopoulos said of his meeting with Kilrea, "or he was deliberately trying to twist my words into something they were not.”

The Crown's questioning of Reynolds took only five minutes.

Reynolds said he and O'Brien had discussed the alleged parole board offer for Kilrea only after it had hit the press.

He said O'Brien had told him, "I may have asked you what the process was, but I never remember talking to you about Terry Kilrea, or doing anything about it.”

During cross-examination, Reynolds told Edelson that if any friend called him about arranging an appointment, he tells them to forward a resumé and he'd take a look.

He said the way Kilrea has described the process wouldn't have gotten him a job.

If the defence's argument on the point of law is effective, however, the testimony about whether or not a parole board appointment had been discussed could no longer have any relevance in the trial.

The trial will resume Monday morning at 10 a.m.