"DR. SMITH'S VICTIMS RETURNED TO THE HEADLINES LAST WEEK AFTER ONTARIO PREMIER DALTON MCGUINTY ANNOUNCED ATTORNEY GENERAL CHRIS BENTLEY WOULD RELEASE DETAILS OF A COMPENSATION PACKAGE "VERY, VERY SHORTLY."
IN OCTOBER 2008, JUSTICE STEPHEN GOUDGE RELEASED A 1,000-PAGE REPORT THAT SLAMMED SMITH, ALONG WITH ONTARIO'S FORMER CHIEF CORONER AND HIS DEPUTY, FOR THEIR ROLES IN WRONGFUL PROSECUTIONS AND ASKED THE PROVINCE TO CONSIDER COMPENSATING SOME 40 INNOCENT PEOPLE ONCE BRANDED CHILD MURDERERS.
"DESPITE THE PREMIER'S ASSURANCES, THOSE AFFECTED BY THE DISGRACED PATHOLOGIST ARE UNLIKELY TO RECEIVE MONEY ANY TIME SOON. BENTLEY, WHO SET UP A TEAM IN DECEMBER 2008 TO CONSIDER THE VIABILITY OF A COMPENSATION PROCESS FOR PEOPLE WRONGLY ACCUSED, AND IN SOME CASES CONVICTED DUE IN PART TO SMITH, WOULDN'T PINPOINT A DATE.
IT TOOK LONGER THAN EXPECTED, BUT THE GOVERNMENT IS STILL IN THE PROCESS OF COMING UP WITH A "SHORT" AND "USER-FRIENDLY" FRAMEWORK THAT WOULD BE USED TO CALCULATE COMPENSATION, BENTLEY SAID..."
REPORTER FRANK DOBROVNIK: QMI AGENCY;
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"SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. - William Mullins-Johnson is known as Bill to friends, of which he has few," the QMI Agency story by reporter Frank Dovrovnik begins, under the heading, "Compensation means little to a wrongful conviction victim."
"Five years ago, Mullins-Johnson was released on bail from the Warkworth Institution, the largest federal correctional facility in Canada, pending a review of his 1993 conviction for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, Valin Johnson," the story continues.
"In 2007, just about everybody involved in his 12-year incarceration apologized for what turned out to be a wrongful conviction, based largely on the testimony of the Crown's star witness, pathologist Dr. Charles Smith.
Today, Mullins-Johnson, 39, says he may as well still be in a prison cell.
"I largely live the way I lived when I was inside: isolated, untrusting and largely alcohol-free," he said in a recent interview. "I don't go out. I don't go to bars. They're too unpredictable for me ... I never know if some punk is going to come up to me and I'd have to throw him through the window."
He speaks from a fast-food restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., he preferred to meet a reporter in rather than at his home. Though candid about his ordeal, he still doesn't "want people to know my address," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me if a large number of people still believe I'm a murderer and a pedophile."
Mullins-Johnson quietly moved back to the Northern Ontario city about 18 months ago, partly because "quite honestly, I should never have been pushed out of here. This is my home," he said. "I'm a (Soo) Greyhounds fan. I'm a Sault boy."
Most of his family is still here, including his mother, Laureena Hill, the only one who never doubted his innocence. The rest were slower to stop perceiving him as a monster, especially his brother Paul, Valin's father.
The family is "healing" after so many years, Mullins-Johnson said, and Paul "seems to be alright. Him and I are back together again."
His move also came after an aborted attempt to earn a criminology degree from the University of Toronto. He finished his transitional year, for mature students without a high-school diploma, and started his first year, but "I was partying too much, having too much fun."
A relationship with a Manitoulin Island woman fizzled around the same time, as did several others over the years. Mullins-Johnson was not the same man who had been sent to prison 17 years ago. Besides receiving counselling for anger management, he has trust issues "like you wouldn't believe."
In prison, "it's so easy to live (because) you know where you stand with people. Out here, it's a harder thing to figure out,” he said.
“When people first meet me, they ask me about compensation. ... I don't know if people want to be with me because of money."
Dr. Smith's victims returned to the headlines last week after Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Attorney General Chris Bentley would release details of a compensation package "very, very shortly."
In October 2008, Justice Stephen Goudge released a 1,000-page report that slammed Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions and asked the province to consider compensating some 40 innocent people once branded child murderers.
Despite the premier's assurances, those affected by the disgraced pathologist are unlikely to receive money any time soon. Bentley, who set up a team in December 2008 to consider the viability of a compensation process for people wrongly accused, and in some cases convicted due in part to Smith, wouldn't pinpoint a date.
It took longer than expected, but the government is still in the process of coming up with a "short" and "user-friendly" framework that would be used to calculate compensation, Bentley said.
Mullins-Johnson says he barely keeps track, except when reporters update him with their phone calls. Though he has no source of income or government assistance — "I'm relying on family and friends to help me out," he said — he insists whatever compensation awaits him, including a $13-million lawsuit he filed against local medical officials in 2008 that's making its slow way through the legal system, is money he'd gladly trade for his life back.
"To tell you the truth, I don't really know how to deal with compensation. It's more complex than just cutting a cheque."
While he says he is a changed man, in many ways he's also still that 23-year-old stuck in time, with no employment background to get a job or even a driver's licence. He never used to feel he lost all those years he worked to clear his name behind bars but "now I'm starting to feel it. I'm going to be 40 years old. A lot of women I date don't want to start families," he said.
"It's not easy. That's the simple, nice way of saying it.""
The story can be found at:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/05/10/13893366.html?cid=rssnewslast24hours
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