"Gagnon and his daughter, Liane Thibeault, were also victims of the pathologist's flawed work.
The money will never make up for the suffering his family experienced, but it will provide the family with some closure, Gagnon indicated.
Gagnon spent more than $100,000 in legal fees to defend his daughter after she was wrongly accused of killing her infant son, Nicholas, in 1995.
In total, he estimates he spent $330,000, including all of his retirement savings -- to mount the legal challenge and fight the Children's Aid Society for custody of Thibeault's daughter."
REPORTER CAROL MULLIGAN: THE SUDBURY STAR;
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BACKGROUND; The inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Dr. Smith — formerly the province's chief pediatric pathologist and a self-styled member of the prosecution team — 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, "losing" evidence which showed his opinion was wrong and may have assisted the accused person, mistating evidence, chronic tardiness, and the catastrophic misinterpretation of findings. he 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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"A Sudbury man and his family are still awaiting word about the payment they will receive because they were victims of disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith," The Sudbury Sttar story by reporter Carol Mulligan published earlier today under the heading, "Money won't make up for suffering," begins.
"Maurice Gagnon learned last week, as did all Ontarians, that William Mullins-Johnson received $4.25-million in compensation from the provincial government for the 12 years he spent in jail after being wrongfully convicted of the sexual assault and murder of his four-year-old niece," the story continues.
"Gagnon and his daughter, Liane Thibeault, were also victims of the pathologist's flawed work.
The money will never make up for the suffering his family experienced, but it will provide the family with some closure, Gagnon indicated.
Gagnon spent more than $100,000 in legal fees to defend his daughter after she was wrongly accused of killing her infant son, Nicholas, in 1995.
In total, he estimates he spent $330,000, including all of his retirement savings -- to mount the legal challenge and fight the Children's Aid Society for custody of Thibeault's daughter.
Thibeault's case was one of 19 child-death investigations Smith was found to have made mistakes in during a five-month judicial inquiry into his practise of pediatric forensic pathology.
In August, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley announced a payment schedule and a promise that applications for compensation would be processed within 90 days.
Gagnon said that his and Thibeault's lawyer has filed an application for compensation, which they expect to receive before Christmas.
"We all feel, 'Let's get it over-with,' " said Gagnon, saying his family wants to put the tragedy behind them.
Bentley announced this summer that individuals wrongly accused and convicted would be entitled of recognition payments of up to $250,000."
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The story can be found at:
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2817029
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/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com
