STORY: "Federal government responds to Kyle Unger lawsuit," by reporter Steve Lambert, the Canadian Press, on August 27, 2013.
GIST: The federal attorney general’s office says it and the RCMP acted in good faith and should not be held liable for the wrongful murder conviction of a Manitoba man who spent 14 years in prison for a teenage girl’s death. The office has filed a statement of defence in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench in response to a $14.5-million lawsuit that Kyle Unger filed almost two years ago over his conviction. It wasn’t until 2009 that he was formally acquitted. Unger, who is now 42, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Brigitte Grenier after a rock concert south of Winnipeg. Her body was found in a creek near Roseisle, Man., on June 24, 1990. The attorney general’s office says Unger, whose name was cleared in 2009, bears at least partial responsibility for what happened. “The (police) investigation was devoid of bad faith or any purpose inconsistent with a full, fair and proper criminal investigation,” the defence statement reads. Any losses or damages suffered by Unger “were caused or significantly contributed to by the plaintiff’s own conduct, which includes, but is not limited to, his repeated admissions of having committed the offence for which he was convicted.” Unger was sentenced to life in prison along with his co-accused, Timothy Houlahan, but as the years went by the evidence used to convict him began to unravel. An RCMP hair analysis expert had testified at Unger’s trial that a hair found on Grenier’s sweater belonged to Unger. It was the only physical evidence against him and DNA tests in 2005 showed the hair belonged to someone else.........In 2009, the federal justice minister determined that the conviction had probably been a miscarriage of justice. Months later, Unger was formally acquitted. Unger’s lawsuit alleges that police and Crown attorneys relied on faulty science, ignored evidence that pointed to Houlahan as the killer, and used a flawed undercover sting to get a false confession......... The attorney general’s office also defends the hair analysis as the accepted scientific practice at the time. “At all material times, (hair analyst Jim) Cadieux used contemporary established and accepted scientific procedures to conduct the microscopic hair comparison testing.”
The entire story can be found at:
http://metronews.ca/news/canada/778624/federal-government-responds-to-unger-lawsuit/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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 found at:http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
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Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
