Injustice Served Ice Cold
The justice system in Canada is beginning to look more like a legal system for the many innocents who are caught up in its unrelenting claw-like grasp. It has a strangle hold on many innocent people; people who were simply used as scapegoats to expedite the process to try and convict a person in relation to the crime. The evidence used has been proven in recent years to be flimsy, heresy, and at best, anecdotal.
If you’re a Canadian, you’re probably familiar with the name David Milgaard, a man who in 1969 was wrongfully convicted in the rape and murder of Gail Miller. Only in 1997 was he finally cleared of any wrongdoing in the case. Finally, in 1999, 30 years after the murder and rape of Gail Miller was Larry Fisher, the man truly responsible for the crime, tried and convicted.
There are many others, including and not limited to Robert Baltovich, (a man originally charged in the death of Elizabeth Bain before Paul Bernardo was charged in conjunction with her death), William Johnson-Mullins (a man charged in the death of his 4-year old niece on evidence provided by the now disgraced Dr Charles Smith, whose findings are responsible for many other false convictions) and Louise Reynolds (a woman initially convicted in the death of her 7-year old daughter based on evidence provided by Dr Charles Smith, who was later to have been found mauled by a pitbull).
The latest of wrongfully convicted Canadians to surface is Steven Truscott, who at the age of 14 in 1959 was convicted in the rape and murder of his classmate Lynne Harper. He had become the youngest Canadian to ever be on death row before it was formally abolished. He narrowly missed being hung as his sentence had been commuted to a life sentence before he was released on parole in 1969, eventually coming to live under an assumed name.
The investigation lasted only two days and the trial fifteen days, all while the police overseeing the case failed to look into the possibility of other suspects, including an airman stationed at the RCAF base in Clinton, Ontario where the murder occurred. The airman, Sgt. Alexander Kalichuk, a convicted paedophile who had been known to pick up children in rural areas was one of the potential other suspects identified by The Fifth Estate. Kalichuk died in 1975.
His case has been in the national spotlight for many decades, including during the 1960s when the Supreme Court of Canada reviewed his case, unfortunately in an 8-1 decision, ruling against him, with a single justice standing alone in declaring that the original trial had been unfair. Only after more pressure from the public, with a report from the Fifth Estate, the Appeals board reviewed his case, eventually acquitting him of all charges as of August 28th 2007.
The court unanimously holds that the conviction of Mr. Truscott was a miscarriage of justice and must be quashed. The court further holds that the appropriate remedy in this case is to enter an acquittal.
The court thus orders that Mr. Truscott should stand acquitted of the murder of Lynne Harper.
The current Attorney General, Michael Bryant apologised on behalf of the government, one that had fought the current appeals all the way; the same government that is fighting an ongoing court battle against parents of autistic children.
On behalf of the government, I am truly sorry. It is a decision that will not be appealed by the Crown — it is over.
Too little too late for those who have been wronged by a government that is elected to create laws that punish the guilty and protect the innocent. Those who have aided the wrongful convictions live a life free of their guilt while the innocent they’ve hurt live a life of hell, tormented by the loss of their lives because they are unable to live freely because of the stigma that their wrongful conviction carries.
What kind of system is it when the innocent aren’t protected from the guilty?
What kind of system lets the innocent be convicted of crimes they didn’t commit?
Not a democratic one.
Sources & Further reading:
injusticebusters 2005 >> Dr. Charles Smith
W-5: Expert Witness
CBC Indepth: Steven Truscott
Truscott acquittal weighed
Other leads on possible suspects ignored
Court acquirs Truscott, calling conviction ‘miscarriage of justice’
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