The following are the summaries submitted by your classmates.
We are missing the following Ronald Dalton and John Peters
Humphry. They will be added on Friday.
DAVID MILGARRD
In 1969, David Milgaard, and two of his friends, decided to go on a trip across
the Canadian prairies. On January 31st, 1969 Gail Miller’s dead, raped body was found
in Saskatoon. David was travelling through Saskatoon that morning it was found. He
was accused of murdering and raping the girl. Albert Cadrain, who was being picked up
by the three friends at that time, suspected David and told the police that David had blood
on his shirt. Two of his friends that he was travelling with, Nichol John and Ron Wilson
had heard about the two thousand dollar reward so Nichol said she had seen the murder
and the other friend Ron said that Milgaard had had a knife on him. On May 30, 1969,
16 year old David Milgaard was arrested and charged with murder.
In 1970, 16 year old David Milgaard was sentenced to life imprisonment for the
1969 murder of 20-year old Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller. He spent 23 years in
prison, while his determined mother Joyce made a lone effort to free her son. She never
gave up and was nicknamed by Homemaker Magazine as the “Gumshoe Mom”. She
took David’s unfair case to the Supreme Court, with lawyers Hersh Wolch and David
Asper.
In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled to free Milgaard from prison; if not, it
would not constitute “a marriage of justice”. He was released because the original
witnesses, who had spoken against David 23 years before, changed their testimonies.
They had spoken against him during that time because they were young, confused, scared
teenagers and were convinced into believing that Milgaard had really committed the
crime. The police were so focused on giving all of their attention to Milgaard they didn’t
realize that a serial rapist by the name of Larry Fisher had been operating in
Saskatoon and even lived in the very building which Milgaard had visited on the day of
the rape.
After the historic Supreme Court decision that freed Milgaard in 1992, he was still
not proven innocent of the offense. His lawyers, family and supporters continued their
battle to prove him to be innocent. It took five years for DNA to prove that Milgaard
had not killed Gail Miller and two more years for David and his family to receive a
$10 million compensation package, and an apology from the government of
Saskatchewan.
Donald Marshall Jr.
Donald Marshall Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering
acquaintance Sandy Seale in 1971. Marshall, age 17 at the time, and Seale (age 17
also) had been walking around Sydney, Nova Scotia's Wentworth Park at night
when they confronted and attempted to rob Roy Ebsary, an older man they
encountered in the park.
In self defense, Roy pulled a knife on them and badly wounded Seale.
Ebsary admitted that he had stabbed Seale but later he lied about his role to the
police. The police immediately focused on Marshall, as he was 'known to them'
for previous incidents.
The police speculated he had stabbed Seale out of rage. He was convicted
of murder, and spent 11 years in prison until 1983, when a witness stated that he
had seen another man stab Seale, not Marshall. Ebsary was convicted with
manslaughter.
It is believed that he was a victim of racial prejudice, as he was an
aboriginal and his father was grand chief of the Mi'kmaq nation at the time.
Donald Marshall Jr. spent 11 years (1972-1983) behind bars and was poorly
compensated. He was imprisoned just over half the time of David Milgaard.
Milgaard was compensated 10 million CAD while Marshall was compensated
about 200 000 CAD and put on a monthly stipend for the rest of his life.
So it took 12 years for Donald Marshall’s case to be overturned and
almost 20 years to exonerate him, which means that the court admitted that they
were wrong and that they never should have pressed the charges on Marshall.
Donald Marshall, Jr. didn’t stop trying to clear his name and free himself
the whole time he was in jail and for that fact and his courage he is an inspiration
to Canadians, especially to all the First Nation Canadians.
He has not remained out of the news since his release. In 1999, he won a
case at the Supreme Court of Canada over Native fishing rights. He has also had
some run-ins with the law. He is presently awaiting trial on charges of attempted
murder, making a death threat and dangerous driving.
Dr. Charles Smith
In 1979, Dr. Charles Smith was highly regarded as one best forensic child pathologist in
Canada even though he only worked for 1 year in surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in
Ontario. A Fifth Estate documentary showed that DR. Smith was one of four in Canada with his
expertise. Rumor has it that Dr. Smith was never trained properly for his employment as they did
not offer courses for these people. Only a handful of people in Ontario are able to perform
autopsies and there is no formal training, you just learn from experience.
First doubts of Smith’s work occurred in the year of 1991, involving a family in
Timmins, Ont. He stated that their one-year-old baby had died from being shaken. The child had
been under the care of a babysitter who said the baby had fallen down stairs. Once Dr. Smith
finished the autopsy he concluded that the baby had died from being shaken and the babysitter
was charged with manslaughter. The Judge in the case stated that Dr. Smith should have taken
other things into consideration and he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusion. After this case
Smith’s reputation started to decrease rapidly. News papers and Magazines started writing about
Smith’s unorganized desk and office in which critics stated that he “misplace evidence” this is
pretty huge considering it could mean the difference of someone being innocent or guilty. Soon
enough a lot of suspension was pinned on Dr. Smith and soon enough he would find him self in
some deep trouble. In the year 2005, Dr. Barry McLellan, Ontario's chief coroner, started taking
a look at the 45 child autopsies conducted by Smith between 1991 and 2002. The review, which
was completed in April 2007, lead to information stating that Smith had made mistakes in 20
cases involving the deaths of children. The review cast doubt on 13 cases in which someone was
convicted. These cases were then re opened and some are still awaiting the truth. One of the
main cases that was reviewed was the case concerning William Mullins-Johnson he was
charged for the murder of his 4 year old niece, he spent 12 years in prison for the case he did not
even commit.
With people starting to watch his every move in 2005 Smith resigned from the Hospital
for Sick Kids and accepted a new job as the pathologist in Saskatoon. Due to the media and
recent evidence showing smith’s uncertainty, he was let go by the hospital. In the same year his
contract was terminated. Smith attempted to sue the Saskatoon Hospital for an in proper
dismissal. After the board reviewed the case they figured out that they shouldn’t have denied
Smith his privileges. His license was reinstated but as a non-practice license. He then re applied
for his license and got it but he had a clause on it that he could not work in a pathology unit.
Erin Walsh
Erin Walsh was convicted of murder in the second degree. He was accused of
murdering Melvin Eugene “Chi Chi” Peters, an African Canadian with a sawed-off
shot gun. Erin is originally from Ontario was charged with the murders in Saint John,
New Brunswick, where they took place. The day before the murders, Erin left Toronto
destined from Nova Scotia, with George Ferguson on August 11, 1975. On their way they
stopped quickly in Montréal, where Walsh bought 5 pounds of speed, with all counter fit
money. That evening the pair arrived in Saint John where they attended numerous bars,
and eventually meeting a local man by the name of Donald McMillan. Earlier that day
McMillan had bought two boxes of .410 gauge shotgun shells. When Walsh asked
McMillan if he knew where he could buy a gun, McMillan replied that he knew a guy.
McMillan took Walsh to Sussex where he was presented with a sawed-off shot gun,
wanting a .32 or .38; Walsh claimed that he returned to Saint John without the gun. The
next morning the three continued their drinking. From Donald McMillan’s sister’s house
they traveled to the apartment of David Walton, where at around 11am they were joined
by Melvin “Chi Chi” Peters. Witnesses testified that Walsh was making racist comments
to Peters, Walsh denied that this happened. The five from there traveled in Walsh’s car to
Tin Can Beach. McMillan claims that the comments continued and the others had to put
a stop to a fight between the two. Walsh on the other hand claimed that McMillan, Peters,
and Walton assaulted him on the beach. He calms that while he went for a swim
McMillan and Peters searched his car, and Peters jumped on top of him with the sawedoff shot gun, demanding for the place where he hid the drugs. Walsh escapes and tells a
crew of railway workers, he tells them he is an undercover police officer and for them to
call the police. They all left the beach in Walsh’s car, and there are two stories to what
happened next. McMillan and Walton claimed that Walsh picked the sawed-off shotgun
up off the floor and shot Peters. Walsh claimed that he was forced into his car with the
sawed-off shotgun aimed at his head. A struggle then broke out between Peters,
McMillan, and Walsh, and McMillan got control and accidentally shot Peters. Peters
stumbles out of the car to a police car, the police follow Walsh’s car and arrest everyone
inside, and Walsh was convicted with murder. The trial took 4 days and only an hour for
the jury to decide the verdict. In 2007 lawyer Sean McDonald was hired to clear Walsh’s
name, and new evidence was found. In March of 2008 a Federal Justice and The N.B.
Attorney General agreed that Walsh’s case had been a miscarriage of justice, the Court of
Appeal overturned his conviction. Today, Walsh is seeking compensation, and is dying
of colon cancer.
Stephen Truscott
Steven Truscott was only 14 years old when he was convicted of killing his schoolmate
Lynne Harper. She had been raped and strangled in a wooded area near their homes.
Stephen had been seen by witnesses giving her a ride on his bike, but, as he was one of
the last people to have been seen with her, he quickly became a suspect.
Steven’s trial began on September 19,1959 at the Supreme Court of Ontario in Goderich.
His arrest 3 months prior to this was poorly done and unlawful. He was questioned
without a parent present and was not told he was a suspect in the murder. Later the same
night Steven was charged with first degree murder. At the end of his trial he was
convicted of first degree murder. As he was tried as an adult, he was sentenced to death.
The Crown’s theory that led to Steven’s conviction was based entirely on circumstantial
evidence. They had only one prominent witness who enforced their theory of Steven’s
quest for sexual relations the night of Lynne Harper’s death. This witness, Joceylne
Gaudet was unreliable because she could not keep her story straight, it changed many
times throughout the trial, but this was somehow overlooked by the crown, the judge and
the jury. The pathologist, Dr. Penistan’s ability to pinpoint the time of death by looking at
stomach contents was outrageously exact and unrealistic as it is difficult, if not
impossible, to determine a time of death in such a way. Since Penistan’s initial time was
around 12:00 the next day, it looks as if he shifted his time to fit in the crown’s story.
There were many witnesses to testify that Stephen had driven across the bridge with
Lynne, which contradicted the crown’s theory. Their response to the witness’ testimonies
were “they are all lying”. As the police investigation was focused solely on Truscott from
the very beginning, other legitimate suspects were ignored. These suspects had histories
of sexual offences, where Steven, a 14 year old boy, did not.
Steven Truscott was imprisoned for ten years from 1959-1969. He was sentenced to death
by hanging. This made him the youngest Canadian ever to be sentenced to death before
1959. But after his sentence changed to life imprisonment in January 1960 just four
months later, he was moved to the Ontario Training School for boys in Guelph, Ontario
In 1969 on October 21st, he was released on parole.
Steven was released from jail due to the numerous errors or cover-ups found in the
investigation and trial. A book written by Isabel LeBourdais called The Trial of Steven
Truscott, was one of the reasons why these mess ups were found. She was one of the few
people brave enough to stand up and tell the truth about what was really going on.
James Lockyer and his group of lawyers were some of the people who helped Truscott
clear his name. Also AIDWYC which stands for Association in Defense of the Wrongly
Convicted prepared and submitted an application for a ministerial review on Steven's
behalf. His family was also a big part of helping him get out of jail as they were always
there for him and never doubted him.
Today, Steven lives with his wife, Marlene, and three kids in Guelph, Ontario. He also
works as a millwright with Fiberglass Canada. He learned how to do this in jail. Truscott
is found innocent after 48 years, 2 months and 19 days, yet they have not found the actual
killer. Truscott will receive 6.5 million dollars in compensation from the Government of
Ontario as of July 2008. Steven's life has changed immensely from before being arrested
to today. Before being arrested he was just a young kid, but now he is over 60 years old.
Neither he nor his family has had any contact with the criminal justice system since he
was released in 1969.
Guy Paul Morin
On October 3, 1984 nine year old Christine Jessop was beaten, stabbed, raped,
and murdered. Guy Paul Morin was the girl’s neighbor and was immediately charged
with the murder. There were other suspects in this case. Hair from Guy Paul Morin was
found on the necklace of Christine and her hair was found in his car. The scientist who
tested the hair said that the hair was matching defiantly a match.
The Crowns theory was that Morin left work on October 3, 1984, arrived home
about 4:30 p.m., lured Christine into his car and took her to a site in Durham Region
where he sexually assaulted and killed her.
His first trial was in 1986 and was acquitted of murder. Before this trial Guy’s
cellmate says that he admitted to killing her and had made stabbing motions toward his
own chest, demonstrating how he had murdered her but in court Guy denied to saying or
doing that.
In 1987 the Crown decided that Guy hadn't had a fair trial and was given another
trial. His second trial was to begin but was constantly delayed until 1992. Guy Paul
Morin’s lawyers filed many motions against the attorney general mainly to give them
time to come up with a better case. During the trial Morin’s lawyers used new evidence.
They said how he didn’t have time to commit the murder and said that the evidence with
the hair could be wrong.
In 1995 with improvements with DNA testing they tested the DNA found
and decided that Guy Paul Morin was not the murderer. They concluded that the hair
found was not actually matching and Guy Paul Morin was immediately released. One of
the scientists admitted to having trying to mislead police.
The police, being under pressure from the public and the family members of
Christine, probably arrested the first person who had the time to commit the terrible
crime and a connection between him and the nine year old girl.
Stereotyping did play a huge role in Guy Paul Morin’s conviction. Guy Paul
Morin was a middle aged man who lived with his parents and was an introvert. Police
made Guy Paul a suspect because he was acting “suspiciously” which probably actually
Guy Paul was being an introvert. And a little taken back or even shy that the police were
there interviewing him and his parents.
It’s hard to say exactly how long Guy Paul Morin was actually in jail, because he
was in and out so frequently with his trials and re-trails. But overall, his case took
approximately over 10 years of Guy Paul Morin’s life.