"THE TRUSCOTT CASE WAS MARRED BY EVIDENCE FITTING. AMONG THE WORST INSTANCES RELATED TO PATHOLOGY REPORTS THAT OFFERED CONFLICTING ESTIMATES OF HARPER'S TIME OF DEATH. THE PROSECUTION SEIZED ON A LATER-RECANTED ESTIMATE THAT SUPPORTED THE TRUSCOTT-AS-SUSPECT THEORY, AND SUPPRESSED OTHER REPORTS SO THEY WEREN'T SHARED WITH TRUSCOTT'S ORIGINAL TRIAL LAWYER."
EDITORIAL; THE GUELPH MERCURY;
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One of the many fascinating topics at the recent conference was the lessons to be learned from Ontario's Steven Truscott case. (Steven Truscott was charged with murdering Lynne Harper when he was 13-years-old and spent a period of time on death row in the days before the death penalty was abolished in Canada, prior to his exoneration decades later);
This panel has sparked an excellent editorial in the Guelph Mercury which focused on the failure of the pathology evidence to serve the best interests of justice in the case;
(It is encouraging to read an editorial about the precariousness of pathologist's opinions on issues such as the time of death in a mainstream Canadian newspaper;)
"Had the Tori Stafford case unfolded 50 years ago, investigation into it likely would have gone quite differently," the editorial begins, referring to a young girl who has been missing from her Woodstock, Ontario family home for several weeks;
"For one thing, the seemingly central clue in the case -- a snippet of surveillance video of the April 8 abduction -- would not have existed," the editorial continues;
"For another, there would be no computer records of interest to police investigators possessed by her family.
Wondering about a yesteryear approach to investigating the Stafford case arises from a look this weekend about things learned from the botched work that led to the wrongful murder conviction of Steven Truscott, in the 1959 death of Lynne Harper.
The Truscott case study was staged for jurists and forensic scientists by the Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Toronto's Centre for Forensic Science and Medicine on Saturday.
The death of Harper, like the disappearance of Stafford, was a top priority for the responding police service. In both cases, investigators and their superiors would have felt enormous pressure to resolve these probes, to calm anxious communities and to begin to deliver justice to the most relevant stakeholders.
Obviously, investigating police in the Woodstock case have a theory of the crime. But they've seemingly avoided becoming so wedded to it that they would fall into what was labelled at the weekend Truscott review as "the Cinderella Syndrome." That's the mindset when law enforcement and justice officials make the evidence "fit" a suspect to support a theory of a case and help bring it to a close.
The Truscott case was marred by evidence fitting. Among the worst instances related to pathology reports that offered conflicting estimates of Harper's time of death. The prosecution seized on a later-recanted estimate that supported the Truscott-as-suspect theory, and suppressed other reports so they weren't shared with Truscott's original trial lawyer.
The Truscott case, however, has given rise to considerable learning. This review revealed an openness by experts in the field, with forensic scientists admitting to the tension between the justice system's desire for finality and the need to deliver objective scientific opinion.
There was also a recognition that such science has its limitations, and time and new technology often reveal them.
After the weekend's discussions, it seems all the more that Truscott is owed an apology by the OPP.
But perhaps it also means there is a greater likelihood for justice for Tori Stafford too.
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
