BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog: "Court heard the men were beaten by police and forced to sign false confessions written in English, despite none of them being fluent in the language. Clarence Woodhouse required the assistance of a Saulteaux interpreter to testify. All four told the court they were not involved in the murder of Ting Fong Chan, a restaurant worker and father of two. They said their confessions had been extorted. Brian Anderson said police slapped and punched him. The judge refused to believe him. “The story is incredible unless one accepts the fact that these things do go on in police headquarters at the Public Safety Building but there is no evidence of that beyond what this young man says,” said Justice James E. Wilson in his ruling. “I reject as a complete fabrication this evidence that police officers, certainly in the circumstances which were detailed to me here, would lay themselves open to the difficulties which they could face if statements were obtained in this fashion.”
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/7356324860945674324
———————————————————————————
QUOTE ONE OF THE DAY: "Jerome Kennedy, a Director of Innocence Canada, who has led the case for Mr. Woodhouse’s vindication, said today: “52 years has been an interminable wait for Russell’s family. Today will be an extraordinary day for them now that the Minister has ordered his case back to the courts where he was wrongly convicted.”
—————————————-
QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY: "James Lockyer, another Director of Innocence Canada, who has also been working on Russell’s case, said today: “Innocence Canada is privileged to be able to help Russell’s family. This is a first time that a Minister has found a miscarriage of justice to have occurred for a wrongly convicted person who has passed away. Despite Russell leaving this world 14 years ago, he has wonderful support from his family and friends who remember him. They all say it was Russell’s dream to be cleared of a terrible crime that he had nothing to do with. Today, that dream is much closer to becoming true.”
---------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Today, Justice Minister Sean Fraser has used his ministerial powers to send Russell’s manslaughter conviction to the Manitoba Court of Appeal to be heard as a new appeal based on fresh evidence that his confession was extorted from him. This is the next step in what we hope will be Russell’s road to vindication."
GIST: More than 52 years ago on July 27, 1973, Russell Woodhouse, a young Indigenous man, and a member of the Pinaymootang First Nation on the Fairford Indian Reserve in Manitoba, was arrested for the murder of Mr. Ting Fong Chan in Winnipeg, a crime he did not commit.
He was 19 years of age at the time. On March 5, 1974, more than 51 years ago, he was convicted of manslaughter by a jury in the Manitoba Queen’s Bench Court. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment which he served.
On May 21, 2011, Russell passed away at the age of 61.
On July 18, 2023, two of Mr. Woodhouse’s former co-accused, Brian Anderson and A.J.Woodhouse, convicted of murder at the same trial Russell was convicted, were vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal in Winnipeg.
On October 3, 2024, Clarence Woodhouse, too convicted of murder, was also vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal.
On September 13, 2023, Innocence Canada filed an application with Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for a ministerial review of Russell Woodhouse’s conviction pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Code.
It was an unusual posthumous application on Russell’s behalf. Because he passed away on May 21, 2011, the application was filed on behalf of his surviving sister, Linda Anderson, a school teacher on the Fairford Reserve.
Russell Woodhouse had always proclaimed his innocence but no one listened to him.
The prosecution’s case at his trial in 1974 depended on a “confession” that he was supposed to have made in fluent English despite Saulteaux being the language he spoke. Russell testified that he was assaulted by members of the Winnipeg Police into signing a false confession, but the trial judge and an all-white jury disbelieved him.
Innocence Canada adopted his case in 2023.
Today, Justice Minister Sean Fraser has used his ministerial powers to send Russell’s manslaughter conviction to the Manitoba Court of Appeal to be heard as a new appeal based on fresh evidence that his confession was extorted from him. This is the next step in what we hope will be Russell’s road to vindication.
His case will be heard by the Manitoba Court of Appeal on a date yet to be determined.
Jerome Kennedy, a Director of Innocence Canada, who has led the case for Mr. Woodhouse’s vindication, said today: “52 years has been an interminable wait for Russell’s family. Today will be an extraordinary day for them now that the Minister has ordered his case back to the courts where he was wrongly convicted.”
James Lockyer, another Director of Innocence Canada, who has also been working on Russell’s case, said today:
“Innocence Canada is privileged to be able to help Russell’s family. This is a first time that a Minister has found a miscarriage of justice to have occurred for a wrongly convicted person who has passed away. Despite Russell leaving this world 14 years ago, he has wonderful support from his family and friends who remember him. They all say it was Russell’s dream to be cleared of a terrible crime that he had nothing to do with. Today, that dream is much closer to becoming true.”
The entire release can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en#search/win?projector=1
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
———————————————————————————————
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;
-------------------------------------------------------------------
