A lawyer for the wife of former colonel and convicted killer Russell Williams says her client is a "totally innocent party" who desperately needs a divorce from the man who has brought intense media scrutiny on her private affairs.

Mary Jane Binks appeared Thursday in an Ottawa court on behalf of Elizabeth Harriman, who in December filed for divorce from Williams.

The former CFB Trenton base commander is in Kingston penitentiary serving a life sentence for two murders, two sexual assaults and dozens of fetish break-ins in Ottawa and in Tweed, north of the air force base.

“She’s been driven to a state …she’s pitiful, humiliated,” Binks told the judge, arguing Harriman’s medical and financial records should be sealed.

Justice Jennifer MacKinnon has imposed a publication ban on specifics of Harriman’s medical records and a domestic agreement Williams signed weeks after he was charged.

But in general arguments, Harriman’s lawyer pleaded for privacy, arguing her client had been unfairly dragged in to an unthinkable media storm.

Lawyers for numerous media organizations, including CBC, oppose any sealing order, arguing the divorce will not attract anywhere near the publicity as the original charges and sentencing of Williams.

Richard Dearden, acting for CBC among others, told the court that divorce proceedings in Canada are presumptively open and that in this case the public has a keen interest in ensuring Williams’s victims haven’t been denied potential settlements by the couple signing over control of assets and his military pension.

"Is she not a victim?" asked MacKinnon, challenging the media lawyer’s position.

"No, she is not a victim, your honour," countered Dearden. "She is not a victim of what her husband did. Is she devastated by what he did? Of course. But she is not a victim. The victims are the two women he murdered and the two he sexually assaulted."

One woman — "Jane Doe" — is suing Williams and Harriman for $2.4 million, claiming pain and suffering due to sexual assault.

Williams's second sexual assault victim is also in negotiations with lawyers over a potential lawsuit or settlement.

The judge said she will not lift the publication ban on the medical and financial evidence until after she’s ruled on whether to seal the couples' records.