PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The wrongful conviction of Wilbert Coffin cries out for redress almost 70 years after his execution at Montreal'a Bordeaux Prison, on February 10, 1957. That's why it's so important that 'The International Wrongful Conviction Day Committee' has taken on the task of setting the record straight. Occasionally a case is so heinous a violation of criminal justice norms and principles, that it becomes a blot on a nation's conscience, and it tunnels its way into a nation's culture, through articles, books, TV documentaries, movies, videos, and podcasts- and 'discussions' such as the Zoom conference taking place on Wednesday, which can be accessed at the link below. The Wilbert Coffin affair is one of these heinous cases. (You will also find a link to the very fascinating and well-documented podcast 'The Wilbert Coffin Affair,' produced by Zoom discussion panelist Kathryn M. Campbell, a Criminology Prof at the University of Ottawa;)
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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ACCESS:
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BACKGROUND: (From Zoom conference site); "Wilbert Coffin was a Canadian prospector from the Gaspé region of Quebec. In 1953 three American hunters were found murdered in the woods. Wilbert Coffin was wrongly accused and eventually convicted for one of the three hunters deaths. There was a lack of direct evidence linking Coffin to the murders, and he was convicted based entirely on circumstantial evidence. No defences were presented for Coffin by his lawyer at trial, no witnesses were called, and Coffin was not permitted to testify on his own behalf. All of his appeals were dismissed by higher courts. Despite the lack of evidence, procedural unfairness, and the presence of multiple other valid theories for the hunters deaths, Coffin was hanged at Montreal's Bordeaux Prison on February 10th, 1956. Many still believe Coffin was not given a fair trial considering the seriousness of his sentencing. This case represents a significant miscarriage of justice."
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The Podcast:
https://www.wilbertcoffinaffair.com/
Three illuminating quotes from the Podcast site:
0: "The hope as always been there and we're still hoping and praying something will be done and his name cleared." Judith Reeder; Wilbert Coffin's niece;
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0:"Jacques Hébert, the late senator and ex-journalist, called it the biggest legal miscarriage in Quebec history and wrote a book about it. He said then-premier Maurice Duplessis pushed to find someone to take the fall for the killings so the lucrative American tourist market wouldn’t dry up." National Post;
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0: "The conviction was appealed seven times - unprecedented in Canadian legal history -through various channels of the law." The Restless Ghost; Gene Lowall;
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PANELISTS:
James Lockyer; Co-founder of AIDWYC, the predecessor of Innocence Canada, (along with Win Wahrer), well-known criminal lawyer, and he is looking after the Wilbert Coffin case for Innocence Canada.
Prof. Kathryn Campbell; Criminologist; University of Ottawa, founder 'Innocence Ottawa.'
Elisabeth Widner; A former co-President of AIDWYC, She led the team that reviewed the Coffin case for the organization. Elisabeth is Senior Counsel College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
Marie Coffin Stewart; Wilbert Coffin's sister. She has fought and continues to fight passionately to clear her brother's name - and as he was the first recipient of Innocence Canada's Donald Marshall Junior award.
Jim Coffin; Wilbert Coffin's son who has also fought incessantly to clear his father's name.
Win Wahrer; A co-founder of AIDWYC along with James Lockyer. Director of Client Services for AIDWYC, she worked with Elizabeth Widner on the review of the Coffin case.
Singer-songwriter David Moran will sing 'Ship of Souls', the song he wrote on the Wilbert Coffin case.
Harold Levy: ( Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog);
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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