PUBLISHER'S NOTE: In view of the $4.25 million compensation William Mullins-Johnson that was announced on October 21, 2010 by the Ontario government , I am re-running some early posts relating to the case. The following post - published on October 16, 2007, ran under the heading, "Die cast against Mullins-Johnson even before autopsy began, lawyer charges."
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Lawyer James Lockyer told the Ontario Court of Appeal that the die was cast against William Mullins-Johnson even before the autopsy on his beloved niece Valin began in Sault Ste. Marie Hospital on June 27, 1993.
Lockyer was making submissions Monday on the the Reference to the Court of Appeal by Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson which concluded with the appeal courts quashing of the conviction and entering an acquittal.
Lockyer was referring to the notes prepared by Sergeant Robert Welton, the Investigating officer on the case, which indicate that at 2.50 p.m. that day - about an hour and a half before the autopsy commenced:
"Jim Corelli (a lab technician) advised that Dr.(Robert) Rasaiah (the pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination on Valin had called an expert at Sick Children's and was told that the injuries to the deceased vaginal and rectal area would probably indicate chronic abuse," wrote Welton.
Lockyer told Court that, "Other evidence reveals that the person Dr. Rosaiah called was Dr. Charles Smith at the Hospital For Sick Children at 2.50 p.m.
before the autopsy began."
Smith later concluded - after being sent the autopsy exhibits by Rosaiah - that Valin had been sodomized and then strangled to death. (Conclusions which have been proven by recent testing of the autopsy materials to be utterly wrong; Valin was neither murdered or sexually assaulted; She died a natural death.)
Lockyer also suggested to the court that the die had been cast against Mullins-Johnson by the presence of Dr. Patricia Zehr, a Sault Ste. Marie Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.
Welton's "will say" notes prepared for prosecutors indicate:
"That around 15:00 hours (3:00 p.m.) Doctor Zehr was in attendance in the morgue, as well as Constable Cathy Toni from the Identification Unit. That he (Welton) Doctor Zehr, upon examining the deceased, made the following comments:
-vaginal opening is consistent with penetration;
-anal penetration-gross-worst she's ever seen;
-damage indicates ongoing abuse."
(The Court of Appeal heard testimony that it is not unusual for the anus to become naturally dilated after death);
Welton's notes indicate that, Doctoer Rasaiah began the post-mortem examination at 16:30 hours (4:30 p.m.) - well after the call to the Hospital For Sick Children and Zehr's examination of Valin's body.
Zehr's presence at the autopsy clearly puzzled Justice Marc Rosenberg, who asked Dr. Michael Pollanen (Chief Patholgist of Ontario) at the end of Pollanen's fresh evidence testimony to the Court, "Is it normal to have a non-pathologist attend the autopsy?"
"It is not my practice," Pollanen replied.
Lockyer told Court that Welton's notes tell "almost the full story" behind Mullins-Johnson's conviction of a crime that never occurred and the fourteen years that were torn out of an innocent man's life.
Timing is at the heart of that story - which Lockyer calls "a rush to judgment":
The autopsy concluded at 5.30 p.m.
William Mullins-Johnson was arrested just one hour later at the family home - in the midst of his shock, bewilderment and mourning - on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault on Valin.
The police acted before any of the forensic evidence arising from the autopsy was in - in spite of Mullins-Johnson's fervent denials. (See earlier posting: Interrogation of an innocent man);
"judgment was delivered," Lockyer told Court. "There was no stopping of the train once it left the station."
See also earlier postings: "Famed Forensic Pathologist Admits He Erred: and "Conduct Of Other Experts Scrutinized by Mullins-Johnson's Lawyers."
Harold Levy;
