PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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GIST: Two First Nations men who were recently acquitted for the 1973 murder of a Winnipeg man are now taking all three levels of government to court, saying police officers and a Crown prosecutor colluded against them to give false evidence during the trial that led to decades in prison for the men.
Allan Woodhouse, 68, and Brian Anderson, 69, are both members of Pinaymootang First Nation in northern Manitoba who received life sentences in 1974, after the fatal stabbing of Winnipeg restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan the year before.
Anderson was released on parole in 1987 and Woodhouse in 1990, but they weren't acquitted by a Manitoba Court of King's Bench judge until last year, shortly after then federal justice minister David Lametti ordered a new trial for the two men.
During the hearing last year where the men were acquitted, Manitoba Prosecution Service executive director Michele Jules told court that the men were wrongfully convicted and their confessions were "entirely manufactured by police detectives."
Systemic racism played heavily in both men's convictions, she said.
In two statements of claim filed at the Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Tuesday, Anderson and Woodhouse are suing the federal and provincial attorneys general, the City of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba for damages that include pain and suffering, and the loss of their reputations, enjoyment of life and developmental experiences.
"The conduct of the defendants was high-handed, outrageous, scandalous, reckless, entirely without care or consideration" of Anderson and Woodhouse's rights, and "exploited" their vulnerability as young Indigenous men, the suits say.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Statements of defence have not yet been filed.
The lawsuits accuse Winnipeg police officers of coercing Anderson, Woodhouse and two others — Clarence Woodhouse and Russell Woodhouse — into signing false confessions to Chan's murder, after two teams of officers interrogated them using "violence, threats, racial slurs and other racialized abuse."
Clarence Woodhouse, who was also found guilty of Chan's murder in 1974, was granted bail by a Manitoba judge last October, while his conviction is reviewed.
His brother, Russell Woodhouse, was also found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years behind bars in connection with the killing. He died several years ago.
Crown had 'win-at-all-costs attitude': suit
According to the lawsuits, police officers coerced confessions from Anderson and Allan Woodhouse by claiming they had evidence to prove their involvement in the homicide, such as witness statements.
The suits say those confessions were the only evidence used by a jury to convict them in March 1974 in the killing of Chan, a 40-year-old chef and father of two who was beaten and stabbed to death near a downtown construction site on July 17, 1973.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal rejected both of their requests to overturn the convictions later in 1974.
The lawsuits accuse the Winnipeg Police Service of negligence and breaching their duty to provide Anderson and Woodhouse with fair and thorough investigations, saying they instead relied on racist attitudes toward Indigenous people and violence to coerce confessions.
The police service failed to properly investigate Anderson and Woodhouse's alibis, did not provide them with an interpreter despite their first language being Ojibwe/Saulteaux, and failed to have an independent review done of their original investigation, the suits say.
They allege that the City of Winnipeg failed in its duty to properly train and supervise the officers.
Former Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield is also accused in the suits of "deliberate improper" conduct, as he had a "win-at-all-costs attitude" to get convictions against Anderson and Woodhouse, knowingly presenting false evidence and misleading comments to the jury.
Dangerfield was the prosecutor behind four other high-profile murder convictions in Manitoba that were later overturned or quashed.
CBC News could not reach Dangerfield for comment prior to publication.
Anderson and Woodhouse's suits allege Dangerfield neglected some witness statements and other evidence during their trial, as well as the systemic racism Winnipeg police had inflicted on them.
Dangerfield and the police officers "intentionally withheld information" from Anderson and Woodhouse before and after their trial, the suits allege.
The province and Manitoba's attorney general are liable for Dangerfield's actions, the suits claim.
The actions of Dangerfield and the police officers "constituted cruel and unusual treatment and/or punishment" that "outrages society's sense of decency," the suits say.
Woodhouse served a total of 23 years in prison, primarily at the Stony Mountain Institution near Winnipeg.
When he was acquitted last year, Woodhouse had been on his last parole stint since 2009, but had been in and out of prison before that due to parole breaches.
He spent 38 years working as an electrician inside and out of prison, earning a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Manitoba in 1990, and started teaching high school math and science courses in Victoria shortly after.
Anderson served nearly 11 years in prison, during which a teacher at one facility advocated his innocence to the government and the Parole Board of Canada, the suit says.
Canada breached its duty of care to Anderson under the Criminal Code because it failed to make steps to investigate those claims of his innocence in a timely manner, the lawsuit alleges.
Canada also failed in its duty to ensure Anderson and Woodhouse were treated fairly as Indigenous people in the justice system and that their Charter rights were not violated, according to the suits.
Representatives for the province and the City of Winnipeg both declined to comment on the suit to CBC News. Canada's attorney general's office has not responded to CBC's request for comment."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/brian-anderson-allan-woodhouse-sue-governments-1.7164040PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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
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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.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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MORE VALUABLE WORDS: "As a former public defender, Texas' refusal to delay Ivan Cantu's execution to evaluate new evidence is deeply worrying for the state of our legal system. There should be no room for doubt in a death penalty case. The facts surrounding Cantu's execution should haunt all of us."
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett; X March 1, 2024.
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