BACKGROUND: CBC: (From an earlier post of this Blog): "Paquin says his acquittal would not have been possible without the work of his lawyers who are part of Projet Innocence Québec. The group helps people it believes have been wrongfully convicted. According to Nicolas St-Jacques, the group's vice-president, Paquin stood trial with two other people who were also accused of first-degree murder. A separate trial was held for a fourth person. The Crown believed Paquin orchestrated the murders and two of the three other men carried them out. The case relied heavily on Bernard Provençal, a well-known police informant. But over the years, St-Jacques and his team found evidence that raised questions about his credibility. The man Provençal claimed shot one of the victims appealed his conviction. The Crown eventually decided to drop the first-degree murder charge and he was ultimately found guilty of the lesser charge of being an accessory after the fact. This development, which Projet Innocence Québec found out about while working on Paquin's case, contradicted the informant's claim that he was the shooter. The group also found information that strongly suggested the informant received money and favours from police in exchange for testimony against Paquin."
claude-paquin-conviction-murder-1.7375274
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STORY: "Wrongfully convicted man files $64 million lawsuit against Quebec authorities," by Videojournalist Olivia O'Malley, published by CTV, on May 05, 2025.
GIST: A man who spent 41 years paying for a crime he never committed is now seeking millions of dollars from the government.
The story of Claude Paquin is recognized as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Quebec’s history.
In 1983, Paquin was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the 1978 deaths of a couple, spending 41 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
He was finally acquitted in November and is now suing the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), and the Montreal police (SPVM) for $64 million.
According to the more than 100-page lawsuit, the 82-year-old is the oldest person ever acquitted in Canada after being wrongfully convicted.
Paquin maintained his innocence from the beginning and fought for years to prove it.
He lost his appeal in 1987, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear his case the following year.
He was acquitted with the help of Projet Innocence Quebec, a group that helps the wrongly convicted. They built the case over 10 years and presented new evidence to the federal justice minister in 2020.
The lawsuit says his trajectory illustrates a “judicial spiral” of serious gross and malicious state misconduct.
Paquin’s lawyers say he now seeks the quiet stability of a peaceful life lived with dignity — and full, uncompromising reparation for what was done to him.
Quebec’s Justice Ministry told CTV News it will not be commenting on the case out of respect for the judicial process. The SPVM also declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal proceedings."
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;
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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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
