PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "But there is more at stake here than just Tamihere’s guilt or innocence. Serious questions now have to be asked about why so many convictions from the 1980s and 1990s are being overturned or quashed in this country. David Bain. Alan Hall, who spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Gail Maney. Stephen Stone, whose conviction was overturned a couple of years ago. Teina Pora, who spent 21 years in the slammer for a murder he didn’t commit. Peter Ellis, whose convictions were quashed four years ago. And the list goes on. In total - and get a load of this - 893 convictions have been overturned in just the past 10 years. Now, obviously not all of those relate to the 1980s and 1990s but given the timing, many of them will.It’s starting to look like a period in our justice system that demands some tough questions because a clear pattern is emerging.
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COMMENTARY: "Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's more at stake here than Tamihere’s guilt or innocence," published by iHeart Radio, on March 31, 2026.
GIST: "So David Tamihere has finally got what he’s been fighting for for decades. The Supreme Court has quashed his convictions for murdering the two Swedish backpackers all those years ago.
Now this doesn’t mean a retrial will necessarily happen. That’s up to the Crown, which must decide whether it wants to pursue the charges again.
In a nutshell, this all comes down to the jailhouse snitch - Conchie Harris - who claimed Tamihere confessed the murders to him. Two years ago, the Court of Appeal ruled Harris’ evidence could not be relied upon and that it was therefore a miscarriage of justice to find Tamihere guilty.
However, the Court of Appeal still found Tamihere was guilty, based on what it described as new evidence.
The Supreme Court has now ruled that this was not the Court of Appeal’s role. Determining guilt is a matter for a jury, which is why today’s decision has been made.
So we will see what happens next.
But there is more at stake here than just Tamihere’s guilt or innocence. Serious questions now have to be asked about why so many convictions from the 1980s and 1990s are being overturned or quashed in this country.
David Bain. Alan Hall, who spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Gail Maney. Stephen Stone, whose conviction was overturned a couple of years ago. Teina Pora, who spent 21 years in the slammer for a murder he didn’t commit. Peter Ellis, whose convictions were quashed four years ago. And the list goes on.
In total - and get a load of this - 893 convictions have been overturned in just the past 10 years. Now, obviously not all of those relate to the 1980s and 1990s but given the timing, many of them will.
It’s starting to look like a period in our justice system that demands some tough questions because a clear pattern is emerging. Back then, we relied on false confessions, questionable witnesses like jailhouse snitches, shoddy police work and some deeply troubling conduct from lawyers - some of whom were clearly prepared to bend the rules to get people behind bars.
That may have seemed acceptable at the time, and the public may not have cared, but it’s certainly not acceptable now. The consequences are catching up with us - not least because the country is now facing a growing compensation bill for these miscarriages of justice.
And watch this case closely, because compensation may well be the next chapter."
The entire story can be read at:
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. 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.
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;
