The John Artis Story
Innocence Canada Presents:
My Name is John Artis
Synopsis:
The film explores the life of John Artis, who was wrongfully convicted of a triple homicide in 1967 alongside his co-accused, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. Through a series of interviews, John reflects on his experiences; beginning from his childhood years in Virginia to the difficulties he faced subsequent to his release from Rahway State Prison in 1981. Aside from being a testament to John’s life, the film serves as a reminder of the immeasurable price paid when justice is miscarried.
We invite you to view the trailer to “My Name is John Artis”.
Director’s Statement:
I first met John Artis in 2015 during my second year of law school at the University of Ottawa. At the time, I was enrolled in a seminar on the topic of wrongful convictions, and had decided that I would create a documentary film for my final evaluation. My professors were gracious enough to connect me with a contact at Innocence Canada, producer Amanda Carling, who in turn introduced me to John Artis, a name I was not at all familiar with until a Google search revealed the famous identity of his former co-accused.
It would be inaccurate, however, to define John’s relationship with Rubin “Hurricane” Carter simply by way of their shared experience with America’s troubled criminal justice system. Insofar as their unique bond was established through the unimaginable experience of having been together wrongly convicted of a triple homicide, and ultimately sentenced to life in prison, their relationship was not so easily definable. Brother, friend, confidant, and caregiver, are a few words that capture the immensity of their bond – each person integral to the other.
Despite their interconnectedness, both John and Rubin’s stories also stand on their own in equal measure. Moreover, although Rubin’s international stature was at times overshadowing, this film is a testament to the singularity of John’s life, spanning from his childhood years in Virginia to the challenges he faced upon his release from prison.
Finally, it is worth insisting that John’s story is as pressing as it is timely. In the course of my current employment as a staff lawyer with Legal Aid Ontario, working as criminal duty counsel, I am able to observe first-hand the way in which our province’s 133 million dollar cut to Legal Aid’s funding will likely pave the way for future miscarriages of justice. Further, the issue of wrongful convictions is of global concern, particularly in the United States, where the current US president has demonstrated his lack of regard for the phenomenon, and has in the past directly inflamed the discussion.
During these times of grave concern, it is worth recalling just how immeasurable the cost of one wrongful conviction can be; both individually, as well as in relation to the constitutional values that enshrine our liberty as a society. This reminder is, in part, what I hope John’s story illustrates.
Ruzbeh Tamjeedi
Railroaded: The Story of Glen Assoun
“I was devastated, I was just numb. I just stated to the court that ‘I’m officially wrongly convicted as of right now’.”
“Because I knew I was innocent.”- Glen Assoun
In 1999 Glen Assoun was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, he spent the next 20 years fighting to prove his innocence. Acquitted in early 2019, Innocence Canada is honoured to count Glen as our most recent exoneree.
On Saturday, November 16 Glen’s harrowing story was profiled on CTV’s W5. Please join the Innocence Canada team by watching W5’s profile on Glen’s wrongful conviction, sharing the link below through social media and spreading the word about wrongful conviction in Canada.
You can see a preview of the documentary here.
50 years after wrongful conviction
David Milgaard speaks to the Globe & Mail about life after a wrongful conviction and his calling to advocate for other innocent people languishing in prisons across Canada.
Read the full article.
The wrongful conviction of Glen Assoun
Today the public finally learns the details of one of the most tragic and egregious wrongful convictions in Canadian history. Glen Assoun has suffered for decades due to the professional misconduct of individuals in the police forces involved in the case.
After 16 and a half years in prison, and 5 more under strict bail conditions, the truth will be told – Glen Assoun was wrongly convicted in the murder of Brenda Way.
Learn about the true story of Glen Assoun’s wrongful conviction.
Innocence at Stake: The Need for Continued Vigilance to Prevent Wrongful Convictions in Canada
In the fall of 2002, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Heads of Prosecutions Committee established a Working Group on the Prevention of Miscarriages of Justice in response to a number of wrongful convictions that had been identified and studied across the country. The Working Group was given the mandate to develop a list of best practices to assist prosecutors and police in better understanding the causes of wrongful convictions, and to recommend proactive policies, protocols and educational processes to guard against future miscarriages of justice.
Two years later, the Working Group, composed of senior police and prosecutors from across the country, completed and presented the Report on the Prevention of Miscarriages of Justice. It was released to the public by Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice at their annual meeting on January 25, 2005. In 2011, the committee released a follow-up report entitled The Path to Justice: Preventing Wrongful Convictions. This updated report provides a summary of developments in the law and the efforts to implement the recommendations provided in the original report.
On April 25, 2019, a comprehensive new report on preventing wrongful convictions, Innocence at Stake: The Need for Continued Vigilance to Prevent Wrongful Convictions in Canada, was released. This report not only updates and adds to earlier recommendations, but also explores new areas of research in wrongful convictions such false guilty pleas and the vulnerabilities of youth, women and Indigenous people.
These Reports comprehensively explore common causes of wrongful conviction, including tunnel vision, faulty eyewitness identification and testimony, the phenomenon of false confessions, the use of in-custody informers, the limits of forensic evidence, and the frailties of “expert” testimony. The findings and recommendations made by commissions of inquiries into wrongful convictions throughout Canada and internationally were collected and examined. Most importantly, the Reports provide clear, comprehensive and practical recommendations for improvements to the criminal justice system which were designed to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions.
Preventing False Confessions Video
This video is directed at police officers but would be of interest to any person involved in the justice system. Specifically, it looks at the heightened risks for suspects to falsely confess when using the Reid interrogation technique, the impact of over-policing on marginalized and vulnerable communities, the role that language, racial bias, and differences in cultural beliefs play in Indigenous peoples being wrongly convicted, and examines some of the susceptibilities that those with mental health issues face in an interrogation room.
Watch Preventing False Confessions from Vulnerable Suspects.
Innocence Canada thanks the Ontario Bar Association and the Law Foundation of Ontario for their support and the following individuals for their expertise:
Professor Kent Roach
Kent Roach is Professor of Law and Prichard-Wilson Chair of Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and of Yale, and a former law clerk to Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. Prof Roach has served as research director for the Goudge Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Patholology and for the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182. In both capacities, he edited multiple volumes of research studies. He served on the research advisory committee for the inquiry into the rendition of Maher Arar and the Ipperwash Inquiry into the killing of Dudley George. He also served as volume lead for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report on the Legacy of Residential Schools. He has been a member of Canadian Council of Academies expert panels on policing and subsequently on Indigenous policing.
Dr. Tim Moore
Dr. Tim Moore is Professor of Psychology and chair of the Psychology Department at York University’s Glendon College where he teaches Psychology & Law. Dr. Moore has served as a consultant or expert witness in dozens of criminal trials in both Canada and the U.S. on issues related to memory, language comprehension, child witnesses, suggestibility, police investigative practices and interrogations. Dr. Moore is a regular participant in various legal educational programs, including the Criminal Lawyers Association, the Ontario Bar Association, Osgoode’s Professional Development series and the National Judicial Institute.
Robert S. Wright
Robert S. Wright is a Social Worker and Sociologist whose 28 year career has spanned the fields of education, child welfare, forensic mental health, trauma, sexual violence, and cultural competence. He has always integrated his work delivering direct practice clinical service to clients with teaching and supervising interns and promoting lasting systemic change through social policy advocacy.
Robert holds BA and MA degrees in social work and has post-graduate training in social work and sociology. He has served in notable roles as the Race Relations Coordinator of the former Dartmouth District School Board, Executive Director of Family & Children’s Services of Cumberland County, and the Executive Director of Nova Scotia’s Child and Youth Strategy.
Robert also serves as the Executive Director of The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic which provides no and low cost counselling and case management services to low income individuals and special populations. Through the Peoples’ Clinic, Robert conducts ManTalk, a treatment/support group for male victims of sexual violence, and other programmes for special populations.
Dr. Lorna Fadden
Dr. Fadden’s research is in the area of language and law, especially forensic discourse analysis. She has held Senior Lecturer and Assistant Professor positions in the Department of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University, where she was also the First Nations Languages Coordinator. She is a steering committee member of the West Coast Roundtable on Language and Law, and she has run a forensic consulting practice since 2008, carrying out linguistic analyses for legal counsel in civil and criminal proceedings. Lorna has received her JD from Thompson Rivers University.
Dr. Voula Marinos
Dr. Voula Marinos is an Associate Professor and holds a Ph.D in Criminology from the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. Her interdisciplinary research is currently focused on three primary areas: diversion of youth and adults from the formal court process; mental health, intellectual disabilities, law and the courts; and plea bargaining and sentencing of youth and adults.
She is a Member of the Canadian Centre for Lifespan Research at Brock University. She was part of the 3Rs Rights, Respect and Responsibility Research Team at Brock, committed to research on human rights for persons with intellectual disabilities. Much of her work involves interviews with criminal justice professionals and court observations. She lectures widely to criminal justice professionals, law students, and community-based organizations about her research and criminal justice policy.
Jordan Rapps, Videographer
Glen Assoun Acquitted of 20-Year-Old Murder Conviction
Halifax, NS: Glen Assoun heard the news this morning he has waited 20 excruciating years to hear – he was acquitted of the murder of his former common law spouse.
Shortly after federal Justice Minister David Lametti quashed Mr. Assoun’s conviction and requested a new trial, Nova Scotia’s prosecution service said it would not attempt to re-prosecute the case.
Prosecutor Mark Scott told the court that after reassigning the evidence, the Crown did not believe it had a realistic prospect of obtaining a conviction.
The decision brought tears to many in the packed courtroom, including the court clerk and Mr. Assoun’s many family members and supporters.
Justice Chipman specifically congratulated Innocence Canada and lawyers Phil Campbell and Sean MacDonald for the “tremendous work” they put into the case.
“You kept the faith with remarkable dignity,” Justice James Chipman told Mr. Assoun directly. “You are to be commended for your courage and resilience. You are a free man. I sincerely wish you every success.”
Mr. Assoun then thanked his lawyers, Innocence Canada and the organization’s director of case review, Jerome Kennedy, for helping him to restore his innocence.
The decision means that Mr. Assoun is free of all charges related to the murder of Brenda Way and should not have spent 16 years behind bars, protesting his innocence all the while.
In the decision that triggered today’s dramatic series of events, the Department of Justice made an explicit finding that relevant and reliable evidence was not disclosed to Mr. Assoun during his criminal process.
“Retrying Glen Assoun against the backdrop of this massive miscarriage of justice would have been unconscionable,” said Mr. Campbell. “It is well past the time for the tremendous suffering Glen has endured to come to an end.”
Mr. Assoun expressed immediate relief this morning that his innocence has been restored.
“I’ve been telling anyone and everyone who would listen for over twenty years that I am an innocent man. Thank God somebody finally heard me. Thank you Minister Lametti you gave me my life back.”
Mr. Assoun, 63, was convicted in the 1995 murder of his former girlfriend, Brenda Way. Ms. Way had been stabbed to death in a laneway.
Mr. Assoun was released under restrictive bail conditions in 2014, after the federal Criminal Convictions Review Group (CCRG) concluded that there was a reasonable possibility that he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The CCRG has spent the past four years closely scrutinizing fresh evidence in the case.
“The relief of having a murder conviction quashed is almost indescribable,” said Innocence Canada co-president Ron Dalton, who served 10 years in prison before his own murder conviction was quashed. “Glen has suffered tremendously and deserves to be fully exonerated with all speed.”
Mr. Assoun is the 24th wrongly convicted individual freed with the help of Innocence Canada.
“Behind this seemingly sudden cascade of events lie many years of hard slogging by a skilled, dogged team of Innocence Canada lawyers,” said IC co-president Kirk Makin. “As grateful as we are for this outcome, our current system of restoring innocence is horribly convoluted and lengthy.
“Wrongful convictions happen,” he said. “They will always happen. Reversing them is an incredibly long, under-funded, arduous slog.”
The Department of Justice’s review of Mr. Assoun’s conviction was triggered by an extensive application filed by Innocence Canada lawyers. The application included substantial fresh evidence indicating that Mr. Assoun was wrongly convicted at his 1999 trial.
Under the S. 696.1 procedure, convicted persons who have exhausted the court appeal process can apply for a new trial provided they can furnish fresh, cogent evidence. The Minister can choose to turn down the application; refer it to a provincial appellate court for rehearing or other disposition based on the new evidence, or direct that the Attorney-General of the province concerned hold a re-trial.
Previous exonerees who went through the lengthy S.696.1 process include Steven Truscott and Romeo Phillion.
“Today, the Minister has returned the precious constitutional presumption of innocence to Glen Assoun,” said Mr. MacDonald. “In ordering a new trial, he has used the most powerful tool at his disposal. Glen is no longer a convicted killer.”
The CCRG investigation turned up evidence of official misconduct that could have led to the conviction being reversed more than a decade ago. Notwithstanding today’s developments, this evidence remains under a publication ban.
Co-counsel Phil Campbell said that today’s ministerial decision was based on, “new and extremely powerful evidence that has come to light during the course of this application and the government’s subsequent re-examination of the case.”
Mr. Campbell said he is prevented from releasing details of the seriously tainted evidence in the case because of court-ordered publication bans, as well as a confidentiality agreement between Innocence Canada and the CCRG.
“Information that will be revealed in the courtroom in days and months to come will shock Canadians,” Mr. Campbell said. “Anybody who assumes that our justice system no longer convicts the innocent is in for a rude awakening.”
Mr. Makin urged the news media to undertake whatever legal challenges may be necessary in order to bring all of the evidence to light.
“It is now very much in the public interest that the press is in a position to publish this information,” he said. “Miscarriages of justice will occur again and again unless we examine their root causes and learn from these horrendous mistakes. Full scrutiny of the conduct of authorities in this case is long overdue.”
Ms. Way was found dead in Dartmouth, N.S. On Nov. 12, 1995. She had been stabbed to death.
Mr. Assoun voluntarily surrendered to police in 1998. Despite vehemently asserting his innocence, he was initially charged with first-degree murder but was committed to stand trial on second degree murder at the conclusion of the Preliminary Hearing. Unable to obtain a lawyer for his trial, Mr. Assoun represented himself.
Convicted of second degree murder on Sept. 17, 1999, Mr. Assoun was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until he had completed serving 18 and a half years behind bars.
Mr. Assoun loudly protested his innocence throughout his trial, including at the moment of his conviction. Innocence Canada launched an internal review of his case soon after Mr. Assoun contacted Innocence Canada pleading for help.
The organization adopts cases where it concludes that an applicant is likely to be innocent. In Mr. Assoun’s case, the organization believes that the fresh evidence points overwhelmingly to Mr. Assoun being innocent in the murder of Ms. Way.
In 2013, Innocence Canada filed an application for ministerial review. In 2014 the Department of Justice released a preliminary report that found, ‘there may be a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.”
On Nov. 24, 2014, based on this conclusion, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court released Mr. Assoun on bail. One of the conditions imposed was that he wear an electronic ankle bracelet at all times to enable authorities to track his movements.
“The heinous conduct that characterized this case cannot remain in the dark,” added Mr. MacDonald. “The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service is fully aware of all the underlying information supporting the Minister’s decision today. To re-prosecute this case would have compounded a grave mistake that stole two decades of Glen’s life from him.”
The organization is urging a complete investigation into other suspects who were identified but ignored so that Ms. Way’s killer may be brought to justice – which Innocence Canada believes is still possible.
The Assoun case represents a tragic bookend to the first murder exoneration of modern times in the Donald Marshall case, Mr. Campbell observed.
“Almost four decades after Donald Marshall was exonerated of murder in this province, the specter of what happened to him remains,” he said.
“We are grateful for the decision of Mr. Lametti and the work of his advisors but saddened at the personal toll the case has taken on an innocent man and the need, once again, to relearn the lessons of the past.”
For further information or comment, please contact Innocence Canada co-counsel Phil Campbell (416-847-2560; or Sean MacDonald (416-606-3017).
Bail Granted: Wade Skiffington
INNOCENCE CANADA PRESS RELEASE – January 23, 2019
WADE SKIFFINGTON – BAIL GRANTED DURING MINISTER OF JUSTICE’S INVESTIGATION OF HIS MURDER CONVICTION
Vancouver, BC: In a dramatic breakthrough in one of Canada’s most notorious wrongful conviction cases, Wade Skiffington has been released on bail while the Minister of Justice conducts a full investigation into whether his conviction was a miscarriage of justice.
On January 23, 2019, the Honourable Justice Michael Tammen, of the British Columbia Supreme Court, in Vancouver, BC, ordered that Mr. Skiffington be released to live with his family in Newfoundland and Labrador while the Minister’s investigation is underway.
Following Justice Tammen’s decision, Phil Campbell, of Innocence Canada, said “This is a great day. As dreadful as wrongful convictions are, it is deeply gratifying when they start to be recognized and corrected. The Minister of Justice’s determination that this case may be a miscarriage of justice was the first step in that process. Today’s ruling that Wade can live with his family and loved ones while the process unfolds is the second. We look forward to the day when the courts recognize that he is innocent.”
Mr. Skiffington, age 53, has been in prison for more than 17 years for the murder of his fiancée, Wanda Martin, a crime that he vehemently insists that he did not commit. Before and since his legally dubious “Mr. Big” confession, Mr. Skiffington has always maintained his innocence. Despite being a model prisoner, he has been denied parole because he will not participate in correctional programming that he perceives requires him to admit guilt for a crime he did not commit – the classic “prisoner’s dilemma” or “Catch 22”. Following Justice Tammen’s decision granting him bail, Mr. Skiffington expressed the hope that his seemingly interminable nightmare may finally be coming to and end.
On June 14, 2017, Mr. Skiffington filed an application pursuant to Part XXI.1 of the Criminal Code for Ministerial Review of his conviction. On June 7, 2018, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Convictions Review Group (CCRG) concluded that there was a reasonable possibility Mr. Skiffington could have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice and has commenced a full investigation into his case.
Under Part XXI.1, convicted persons who have exhausted the courts’ appeal process can apply for a review provided they can furnish new and significant information. The Minister can choose to turn down the application; refer it to a provincial appellate court for a fully contested appeal; or direct that a new trial be held. Previous exonerees who went through the lengthy S.696.1 process include Steven Truscott, Robert Baltovich and Romeo Phillion. To date, Innocence Canada (formally known as AIDWYC – the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted) has helped exonerate 22 innocent people.
The Department of Justice’s review of Mr. Skiffington’s conviction is based largely, although not entirely, on the question of whether the only evidence capable of sustaining the conviction, a confession made during an undercover Mr. Big sting, can be said to be reliable when analyzed in accordance with the Supreme Court of Canada’s seminal decision in R. v. Hart, rendered in 2014. If his confession is deemed to be unreliable, Mr. Skiffington’s conviction cannot stand.
Wanda Martin was shot multiple times in a friend’s apartment building in Richmond, B.C. on September 6, 1994. Her fiancé Wade Skiffington immediately became the subject of police scrutiny, as many domestic partners naturally are, but there was never any forensic evidence tying him to the offence and independent third-party witnesses readily established that he had a credible alibi and no realistic opportunity to commit the offence. Mr. Skiffington was completely co-operative with police in the aftermath of Wanda’s homicide, providing them with multiple statements and permitting a search of his residence. Residents who lived close to the crime scene reported a man, who was not Wade Skiffington, behaving in a very suspicious manner in the neighbourhood shortly after the homicide.
Innocence Canada believes that the police investigation into Wanda Martin’s murder was a classic case of tunnel-vision, a known cause of wrongful convictions, and that police failed to pursue alternative suspects and rudimentary avenues of investigation that may well have resulted in the apprehension of the person who killed Wanda Martin. Instead, with their focus solely on Wade Skiffington, in 2000, six years after Wanda’s murder, police initiated a costly, intricate and violent “Mr. Big” undercover operation where they posed as gangsters – all in an attempt to coerce a confession from Mr. Skiffington. Under immense pressure, and with a genuine fear of violent repercussions if he did not tell the undercover boss what he wanted to hear, Wade Skiffington confessed to a crime he did not commit. That confession, without any corroborating evidence, and with many details that showed it to be false, resulted in Mr. Skiffington’s conviction and a life sentence with no chance of parole for 13 years.
Following Justice Tammen’s decision granting Mr. Skiffington’s release from custody, Tamara Duncan, of Innocence Canada, co-counsel for Mr. Skiffington, stated, “In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized in the Hart decision that the Mr. Big investigative technique could become abusive and could produce unreliable confessions which are a known cause of wrongful convictions. We have long believed that this is precisely what happened in Wade’s case and that the Mr. Big sting targeting him coerced a false confession which resulted in his wrongful conviction. Wade’s fight to clear his name is far from over, but today’s ruling in an important step in this process.”
Mr. Campbell added: “Mr. Big has a unique capacity to get suspects talking but it also has a powerful potential to distort the truth and elicit false confessions. This case, with such coercive tactics and so little confirmation, is an example of the technique at its worst. It’s the kind of case for which the Supreme Court of Canada formulated new legal rules in 2014.”
For further information or comment, please contact Innocence Canada co-counsel Phil Campbell (416-579-3321; or Tamara Duncan (778-998-7950).
Frank Ostrowski – Conviction Quashed
On November 27, 2018 the Manitoba Court of Appeal released its decision quashing Frank Ostrowski’s 1987 first-degree murder conviction.
The court found that it would be unfair to order a second trial after so long and entered a judicial stay of proceedings on his behalf.
Innocence Canada co-founder and lead counsel, James Lockyer, when speaking to the media about the court’s decision said it clears Mr. Ostrowski’s name and adds him to the annals of Canada’s wrongful convictions. Mr. Ostrowski is free of prison and bail conditions for the first time in more than three decades.
Mr. Lockyer went on to add:
“However, once again, there will be no accountability in this case. The man spent 32 years under a first-degree murder claim, 23 of them in prison, and no one’s accountable for that 32 years except him. It’s a familiar refrain in wrongful conviction cases”
For Mr. Ostrowski, at long last the stringent conditions he has been made to live under since being released on bail in December 2009 by the Court of Queen’s Bench are gone.
Innocence Canada submitted a s.696.1 (ministerial review) application on behalf of Mr. Ostrowski to the former Federal Minister of Justice, Peter MacKay who in 2014 determined that there was a likely miscarriage of justice in his case. Justice Minister MacKay referred his case to the Manitoba Court of Appeal for a conviction review which concluded on May 28, 2018.
Mr. Ostrowski has had a very difficult and stressful 32 years; we can only hope that bright days are ahead for him.
O’Neil Blackett: Innocence Canada’s 22nd Exoneree
On October 2, 2018, O’Neil Blackett joined the Innocence Canada family as the 22nd person to be exonerated with the support of Innocence Canada. O’Neil’s day in court fell on another important day for the wrongly convicted around the globe, the 5th annual wrongful conviction day.
O’Neil is yet another victim of the now disgraced former pathologist Charles Smith. On February 10, 1999, O’Neil was arrested and charged for the death of his 13 month old daughter, Tamara, which took place two days earlier while he was babysitting her. The Crown alleged that Tamara died from asphyxiation caused by O’Neil.
Charles Smith performed the autopsy and testified at the preliminary hearing. In August of 2001, facing the possibility of being convicted of second degree murder, O’Neil did as many other innocent individuals have done, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to three years and three months in addition to the 15 months he spent in pre-trial custody.
O’Neil was granted an extension of time to file an appeal by the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In 2017, the Crown consented to granting O’Neil a new trial, and on October 2, 2018, the Crown withdrew their charges against him.
The day following the court’s decision, Innocence Canada hosted a reception to acknowledge its 25th Anniversary and Wrongful Conviction Day. O’Neil was ecstatic to attend. He joined the other wrongly convicted in attendance and marched with them as they were led in by bagpiper Rory Gus Sinclair to Convocation Hall at the Law Society of Ontario. O’Neil was welcomed with uproarious applause by the wrongly convicted and all those in attendance as he proudly held up a T-shirt gifted to him that read “INNOCENT” on the front and had a list of names of the wrongly convicted, including his, on the back.
It was a moment that the wrongly convicted, their families, Innocence Canada and their supporters will never forget and will be remembered at each future Wrongful Conviction Day reception.
O’Neil can now move forward and pursue his dreams, aspirations and goals that for far too long didn’t seem possible because of the incompetence of Charles Smith.
We are incredibly humbled by O’Neil’s strength throughout his lengthy involvement in the criminal justice system. We congratulate both O’Neil and his lawyer, James Lockyer, for their dedication and victory.
We wish O’Neil Blackett and his family a bright, happy and fulfilling future.