A list of Canadians wrongly convicted

By The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has awarded Ivan Henry over $8 million in compensation from the provincial government for being wrongfully convicted in 1983 on 10 sexual assault charges. Here is a list of some other Canadians exonerated or acquitted:

David Milgaard: Spent more than two decades behind bars after he was wrongfully convicted of the 1969 murder of a Saskatoon nursing aide. He was released in 1992, and received $10 million from the Saskatchewan government in 1999.

Steven Truscott: Convicted of the rape and murder of a classmate when he was just 14 years old, Truscott was the youngest Canadian to ever face a death sentence. He spent 10 years in prison before he was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1959. The Ontario government said in 2008 it would pay Truscott $6.5 million for suffering a “miscarriage of justice.”

Guy Paul Morin: Received $1.25 million and a public apology after he was acquitted of the 1984 sex slaying of his nine-year-old neighbour, Christine Jessop in Queensville, Ont. The Ontario Court of Appeal cleared Morin on the basis of new DNA evidence in 1995.

William Mullins-Johnson: Former forensic pathologist Charles Smith’s serious errors and conclusions on the autopsies of children set off numerous wrongful murder and manslaughter convictions, including Mullins-Johnson. He spent 12 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of sodomizing and suffocating his four-year-old niece. The Ontario government paid him $4.25 million in compensation.

Thomas Sophonow: Received $2.6 million from the Manitoba government after he was cleared of the 1981 murder of a 16-year-old donut shop worker. He was tried three times and convicted twice based on contradictory testimony from a witness. He spent four years in prison before being freed in 1985.

(SOURCE: The Canadian Press)

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