"William Mullins-Johnson of Sault Ste. Marie, who spent 12 years in jail on a rape-murder conviction, now has to make the case that he deserves the maximum of $250,000, a sum that does not even make up for his loss of income over that period, let alone his lifelong economic losses, the danger he was exposed to as a convicted child rapist in federal prison, the loss of his name and the destruction of his family. (There was never any evidence his niece had been raped or murdered; Dr. Smith said otherwise, and the legal system trusted him because he was seen to be an impartial and scientific observer.) Others, such as Louise Reynolds of Kingston, would presumably receive less. Ms. Reynolds spent two years in jail after Dr. Smith cleared her seven-year-old daughter’s real killer, a pit bull who lived in the basement.
And now the onus is on them, and the others whose lives, through no fault of their own, were devastated by a negligent and abusive state, to sue for damages.
It shouldn’t be. These people are victims of a colossal breach of trust, and Ontario has a moral duty to treat them fairly and justly, and to help them get on with their lives, even while protecting the interests of the province’s taxpayers in a difficult financial time. Recourse to civil justice would no doubt result in a much larger payout to Mr. Mullins-Johnson and some others. The government’s costs in defending these lawsuits would be enormous."
EDITORIAL: THE GLOBE AND MAIL;
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Background: The inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Dr. Smith — formerly the province's chief pediatric pathologist — whose errors led to innocent people being branded as child murderers. The 1,000-page report by Justice Stephen Goudge slammed Dr. Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions and asked the province to consider compensation. The provincial coroner's office found evidence of errors in 20 of 45 autopsies Dr. Smith did over a 10-year period starting in the early 1990s. Thirteen resulted in criminal charges. William Mullins-Johnson, who was among those cases, spent 12 years in prison for the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, whose death was later attributed to natural causes. In another case, Dr. Smith concluded a mother had stabbed her seven-year-old girl to death when it turned out to have been a dog mauling. The inquiry heard that Dr. Smith's failings included hanging on to crucial evidence, chronic tardiness, and the catastrophic misinterpretation of findings. The cases, along with other heart-rending stories of wrongful prosecutions based in part on Smith's testimony, also raised a host of issues about the pathology system and the reliance of the courts on expert evidence."
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"To be wrongfully convicted of killing your own child, or of raping and killing your four-year-old niece – the personal devastation is unimaginable," the Globe and Mail editorial published earlier today under the heading, "Given injustice, $250,000 is a pittance," begins.
"In Ontario, at least 19 families experienced just that sort of horror because for more than a decade, the chief coroner’s office turned a blind eye to its crusading, incompetent pathologist, Charles Smith," the editorial continues.
"And now, 22 months after a judicial inquiry recommended compensation for those who had been grievously harmed, Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley has announced an ungenerous “recognition” scheme that caps compensation at $250,000 for an individual.
William Mullins-Johnson of Sault Ste. Marie, who spent 12 years in jail on a rape-murder conviction, now has to make the case that he deserves the maximum of $250,000, a sum that does not even make up for his loss of income over that period, let alone his lifelong economic losses, the danger he was exposed to as a convicted child rapist in federal prison, the loss of his name and the destruction of his family. (There was never any evidence his niece had been raped or murdered; Dr. Smith said otherwise, and the legal system trusted him because he was seen to be an impartial and scientific observer.) Others, such as Louise Reynolds of Kingston, would presumably receive less. Ms. Reynolds spent two years in jail after Dr. Smith cleared her seven-year-old daughter’s real killer, a pit bull who lived in the basement.
And now the onus is on them, and the others whose lives, through no fault of their own, were devastated by a negligent and abusive state, to sue for damages.
It shouldn’t be. These people are victims of a colossal breach of trust, and Ontario has a moral duty to treat them fairly and justly, and to help them get on with their lives, even while protecting the interests of the province’s taxpayers in a difficult financial time. Recourse to civil justice would no doubt result in a much larger payout to Mr. Mullins-Johnson and some others. The government’s costs in defending these lawsuits would be enormous.
The government may tell itself that Dr. Smith’s errors were made in good faith. That is what Dr. Smith told the Stephen Goudge inquiry, but Mr. Justice Goudge saw that as his attempt to evade moral responsibility. At the preliminary hearing of a Peterborough mother accused of killing her 20-month-old daughter, Dr. Smith denied knowing about a male babysitter’s pubic hair found on the dead girl, even though he had the hair in an envelope in his shirt pocket. It isn’t Dr. Smith alone who bears responsibility; the coroner’s office tried to cover up his deficiencies.
No doubt the province would not want to allow the evidence of the incompetence and abuses to be replayed in civil court and assessed by a jury. It would almost certainly settle before a highly publicized series of trials. But the victims of Dr. Smith are weak, and exhausted, and poor, and Mr. Bentley is exploiting that weakness.
Ontario should own up to its responsibility and offer a reasonable settlement that would put a close to one of the most shameful chapters in Canadian justice."
The story can be found at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/given-injustice-250000-is-a-pittance/article1668499/
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
