During the trial, Powell and McMillian portrayed Sandham as a cold-blooded, ruthless schemer who manipulated Kellestine into committing the murders; Crawford and Cudmore portrayed Kellestine as a bloodthirsty, deranged psychopath who pressured Sandham into committing the massacre; and the lawyers for the rest blamed both Sandham and Kellestine for their actions of their clients. Greg Leslie, the lawyer for Mather argued to the jury: "Frank Mather made a mistake. He became friends with Wayne Kellestine. That's it". Gardiner's lawyer, Christopher Hicks, used his lengthy search for the "pickle tree" alleged to be growing on Kellestine's farm as evidence that his client had a very low IQ and was easily manipulated by those around him as his main defense argument. Edwards wrote the lawyer for each men competed to "...prove their clients were dumber, weaker and crazier than their old Bandidos brothers".