The wrongful convictions of Donald Marshall Jr., David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin have spotlighted what many call the failure of the Canadian justice system.
Advocates say many convicts who were ultimately exonerated watched their applications languish for years in the federal review board.
On June 8, 2000, then justice minister Anne McLellan announced plans to try to avoid such cases from happening again.Anne McLellan
Her proposed changes, since enacted in Section 690 of the Criminal Code of Canada, enable the minister of justice to use his or her discretion to respond to persons who believe they have been wrongfully convicted.
Based on the U.K. experience, the organization believes these represent a small percentage of actual numbers of the wrongly convicted in Canada.
Here are some of the high-profile cases:
James Driskell
Driskell was found guilty in 1991 of the 1990 murder of Perry Harder in Winnipeg. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The RCMP said three hair samples found in Driskell's van were Harder's, and that evidence convicted him. Later test results from Forensic Science Services in the U.K. found none of the hairs belonged to Harder.
Driskell was granted bail in November 2003 while the Justice Department investigated the case.
The inquiry's final report, released Feb. 15, says the jury in Driskell's trial was "seriously misled" on issues including the reliability of a key Crown witness. The report also said the failure of the Crown to disclose information to the defence was "careless indifference."
Romeo Phillion
Phillion was sentenced in 1972 to life imprisonment for the murder of Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy.
In May 2003 – 30 years into Phillion's sentence – a group of law students from York University announced they would apply to the minister of justice to secure Phillion's exoneration. The group spent four years studying the conviction. In July 2003, Phillion was released on bail.
Thomas Sophonow
On June 8, 2000, Winnipeg police announced DNA evidence cleared Thomas Sophonow in the killing of doughnut shop clerk Barbara Stoppel.
Authorities said they had a new suspect in the 1981 murder for which Sophonow was tried three times and spent nearly four years behind bars.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal acquitted him in 1985.
On Nov. 5, 2001, Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh released a report by retired Supreme Court judge Peter Cory with 43 recommendations.
Cory said Sophonow should receive $2.6 million in government compensation (50 per cent from the City of Winnipeg, 40 per cent from the Manitoba government and 10 per cent from the federal government) for his wrongful murder conviction.
David Milgaard
Milgaard was sentenced in 1970 to life imprisonment for the 1969 murder of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller.
Milgaard spent 23 years in prison. The Supreme Court of Canada set aside his conviction in 1992. He was subsequently cleared by DNA evidence five years later.
In 1999, the Saskatchewan government awarded Milgaard $10 million for his wrongful conviction. In the same year, Larry Fisher was found guilty of the rape and stabbing death of Gail Miller.
Donald Marshall Jr.
Marshall was sentenced in 1971 to life imprisonment for the murder of Sandy Seale. He spent 11 years in prison before being acquitted by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983.
Guy Paul Morin
Morin was sentenced in 1992 to life imprisonment for the murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessop.
He was exonerated in 1995 by DNA testing.
Simon Marshall
After serving six years in prison for crimes he didn't commit, Simon Marshall of Ste-Foy, Que. received the highest compensation in provincial history.
In December 2006, the Quebec government awarded the 24-year-old $2.3 million in compensation for his wrongful conviction on charges of sexual assault. An inquiry also revealed multiple breaches in police conduct during the investigation that led to his conviction.
In 1997, Marshall was arrested and charged with 15 counts of sexual assault. The mentally handicapped Marshall, who was dubbed the Ste-Foy Rapist, confessed to the crimes, and was released in 2003. Soon after his release, Marshall was arrested on three more counts of sexual assault. Again, he confessed, although DNA tests eventually showed he was not guilty.
Using the same DNA evidence, Quebec City police Chief Daniel L'Anglais found Marshall had not committed the crimes for which he had already served time.
It was later found that DNA evidence first collected in the investigation that led to Marshall's 1997 conviction was never tested.
William Mullins-Johnson
Mullins-Johnson was convicted in the 1994 slaying of his four-year-old niece. He spent more than 12 years in prison for first-degree murder, partly on the now-questionable testimony of a discredited pathologist.
However, Crown prosecutors called for the Sault Ste. Marie man's acquittal, which was granted by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Oct. 15, 2007.
The Crown apologized in the Toronto courtroom for all the hardship caused.
"I wish to extend our sincere, profound and deepest apology to Mr. Mullins-Johnson and to his family for the miscarriage of justice that occurred," lawyer Michal Fairburn said.
RELATED
CBC stories
- Hair evidence in Manitoba murder trials under scrutiny again (Sept. 15, 2004)
- Phillion case 'world record' for injustice: Lockyer (May 15, 2003)
- Canada's justice minister introduced changes to the Criminal Code Thursday (June 8, 2000)
- DNA evidence clears Winnipeg man (June 9, 2000)
- Fisher gets life sentence (June 4, 2000)
- Fisher verdict renews calls for death penalty (Nov. 23, 1999)
- Larry Fisher found guilty in Gail Miller murder (Nov. 22, 1999)
- 30 years later, Larry Fisher stands trial for murder (Oct. 12, 1999)
- Milgaard will get $10 million compensation (May 17, 1999)
- Morin inquiry slams investigation (Apr. 9, 1999)
- Jessop investigation called off (Mar. 12,1998)
- Guy Paul Morin inquiry wraps up (Feb. 2, 1998)
External Links
- Section 690 – Criminal Code of Canada
- Justice department release on amendments
- Province calls for inquiry into Sophonow case: Manitoba government news release
- Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
- Paul Morin knows the power of forensic evidence
- David Milgaard celebration from Injustice Buster
- Joyce and David Milgaard from FCNetwork
- Nova Scotia (Attorney-General) v. Nova Scotia (Royal Commission Into Marshall Presecution)
- Open Hand: Bad Calls and Miscarriages of Justice
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