PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Susan Milgaard is quoted in Jacque Gallant's article as saying that her mother and brother will be watching as the government gets to work, adding "So will I. Needless to say, I, through this Blog, will be watching too!
Harold Levy: Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.;
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“We will now have, for the first time, a commission that will have as its sole task to investigate claims of wrongful conviction,” said Lockyer, speaking at the offices of Innocence Canada, a legal non-profit organization that advocates for the exoneration of people wrongfully convicted of a crime. “We have a good criminal justice system in Canada, but having a good justice system doesn’t mean it doesn’t make mistakes.”
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " It will eventually replace the current process where convicted people who have exhausted their rights of appeal apply to the minister of justice for a review — a process that at times has been lengthy and unwieldy given everything else on the minister’s plate, said (James) Lockyer, who has famously represented many wrongfully convicted people, including Milgaard."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Virani said that in the span of 20 years, about 200 applications were made to ministers of justice, with 30 cases being overturned. Among those 30, zero were women and only seven were racialized people. “It’s not just important about who is making the ultimate decision, but how we find the cases,” said Virani, highlighting that the new law includes funding and personnel for legal aid and translation to help more people make applications. The fact that so few people from marginalized communities have seen their wrongful convictions overturned was also highlighted in a 2021 report for the government by former judges Harry LaForme and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, who called for the creation of a commission that would have also had the power to proactively review cases."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: (Susan) "Milgaard said her mother and brother will be watching as the government gets to work. “So will I,” she said."
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STORY: "Ottawa passes ‘David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law’ to help wrongfully convicted people clear their names," by Courts, Justice and Legal Affairs Reporter Jacques Gallant, published by The Toronto Star, on December 19, 2024. (Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering courts, justice and legal affairs for the Star.)
PHOTO CAPTION: “We will now have, for the first time, a commission that will have as its sole task to investigate claims of wrongful conviction,” said lawyer James Lockyer, speaking at the offices of Innocence Canada.
GIST: Susan Milgaard knows all too well the challenges faced by people in that situation. Her brother David, who died in 2022, infamously spent over 20 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit before finally being exonerated thanks to DNA evidence identifying the real killer.
The Liberal government’s bill to create the commission, which received royal assent on Tuesday, is named David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law, in honour of a mother and son who fought tirelessly for the wrongfully convicted.
“I stood outside this morning watching the flag of Canada wave, and for the first time in my heart, I felt proud to be standing here knowing what a wonderful country this is,” Milgaard said Thursday.
The commission will be empowered to investigate claims of wrongful convictions and, where substantiated, direct that appeal hearings or new trials be ordered. It will eventually replace the current process where convicted people who have exhausted their rights of appeal apply to the minister of justice for a review — a process that at times has been lengthy and unwieldy given everything else on the minister’s plate, said Lockyer, who has famously represented many wrongfully convicted people, including Milgaard.
“We will now have, for the first time, a commission that will have as its sole task to investigate claims of wrongful conviction,” said Lockyer, speaking at the offices of Innocence Canada, a legal non-profit organization that advocates for the exoneration of people wrongfully convicted of a crime.
“We have a good criminal justice system in Canada, but having a good justice system doesn’t mean it doesn’t make mistakes.”
Details about the commission — who will be hired as commissioners and where it will be located — are still being worked out, said Virani, who promised that it would be up and running as soon as possible. He said ensuring the commission was created was the only ask made of him by his predecessor, David Lametti, when Virani was appointed justice minister in July 2023. Lametti had introduced the bill, and often spoke about how it was a priority for him.
“It’s going to ensure that the experience of the Milgaard family is not repeated,” Virani said.
In making a decision on a potential wrongful conviction, the commission will need to consider factors including: whether the application raises a new significant matter not previously considered at trial or on appeal, the relevance and reliability of that information, the personal circumstances of the applicant, and the challenges faced by Indigenous and Black people who are disproportionately represented in the justice system.
Virani said that in the span of 20 years, about 200 applications were made to ministers of justice, with 30 cases being overturned. Among those 30, zero were women and only seven were racialized people.
“It’s not just important about who is making the ultimate decision, but how we find the cases,” said Virani, highlighting that the new law includes funding and personnel for legal aid and translation to help more people make applications.
The fact that so few people from marginalized communities have seen their wrongful convictions overturned was also highlighted in a 2021 report for the government by former judges Harry LaForme and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, who called for the creation of a commission that would have also had the power to proactively review cases.
Lockyer said he believes there will be several hundred applications in the first year or two once the commission is operational.
“And that will lead inevitably to more wrongful convictions being exposed; the present numbers are probably an average of maybe two or three a year, of successful ministerial reviews,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that maybe the second year into this new system, we should be getting as many as an average of 20 a year for the next few years.”
Milgaard said her mother and brother will be watching as the government gets to work.
“So will I,” she said."
The entire story can be read at:
@JacquesGallanthttps://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/ottawa-passes-david-and-joyce-milgaards-law-to-help-wrongfully-convicted-people-clear-their-names/article_942ea498-be2d-11ef-b5dc-2f3b0bd14f9e.html
PUBLISHER'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;
