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James Patrick Driskell (born 1959) is a Canadian born in Winnipeg who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Perry Harder in 1991.
Driskell's trial and conviction led to a commission of inquiry in 2006.
Harder was last seen outside his rooming house in a pickup truck and his remains were found in a shallow grave just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, three months after his disappearance. Harder had been shot at least once.
Harder and Driskell had previously been charged with possession of stolen goods, and the Crown's theory was that Driskell had committed the murder in order to prevent Harder from testifying against him.
The only physical evidence linking Driskell to the crime were three hairs found in his van that supposedly belonged to the victim. DNA tests showed years later that not only did the hairs in fact not belong to Harder, but they weren't even related to each other.
On 3 March 2005, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Irwin Cotler used a special provision of the Criminal Code provision to quash the conviction, stay the charges, and order a new trial for Driskell, but the Manitoba Department of Justice decided not to order a new trial. It instead entered a stay of proceedings and called for a public inquiry, ending Driskell's conviction without exonerating him.
Driskell had been free on bail since late 2003, after serving a total of 12 years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary convicted of first-degree murder. Driskell's lawyer was James Lockyer, and Alan Libman both prominent defence lawyers working with the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted.
The Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Aspects of the Trial and Conviction of James Driskell began April 4, 2006. Commissioner was The Honourable Patrick LeSage, Q.C. The inquiry was completed, and the findings and recommendations of the Inquiry were provided to Attorney General of Manitoba, Dave Chomiak, on January 30, 2007. [1] In 2008, Driskell was awarded over $4 million compensation. [2]
David Milgaard was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up until his death, he lived in Alberta and was employed as a community support worker. Milgaard was also a public speaker who advocated for the wrongfully convicted and for all prisoners' rights.
Karla Leanne Homolka, also known as Karla Leanne Teale, Leanne Teale and Leanne Bordelais, is a Canadian serial killer who acted as an accomplice to her husband, Paul Bernardo, taking active part in the rapes and murders of at least three minors in Ontario – including her own sister, Tammy Homolka – between 1990 and 1992.
Victor Toews is a Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a justice of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on July 9, 2013, and served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, most recently as Minister of Public Safety. He previously served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1995 to 1999, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Gary Filmon. Prior to his appointment to the judiciary, Toews was a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Edward Leonard Greenspan, was one of Canada's most famous defence lawyers, and a prolific author of legal volumes. His fame was owed to numerous high-profile clients and to his national exposure on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series Scales of Justice (1982–94).
Donald Marshall Jr. was a Mi'kmaq man who was wrongly convicted of murder. The case inspired a number of questions about the fairness of the Canadian justice system, especially given that Marshall was Aboriginal; as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation put it, "The name Donald Marshall is almost synonymous with 'wrongful conviction' and the fight for native justice in Canada." The case inspired the Michael Harris book, Justice Denied: The Law Versus Donald Marshall and the subsequent film Justice Denied. His father, Donald Marshall Sr., was grand chief of the Mi'kmaq Nation at the time.
Hersh Wolch was a prominent Canadian lawyer, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Innocence Canada, is a Canadian legal non-profit organization. Based in Toronto, Innocence Canada identifies, advocates for, and helps exonerate wrongly convicted individuals. The organization is also dedicated to preventing future wrongful convictions through education and criminal justice reform. Since its founding in 1993, Innocence Canada has helped to exonerate twenty-nine individuals.
The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry (AJI), officially the Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal People, was a public inquiry commissioned by the Manitoba government into the administration of justice regarding the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne and 1988 death of J.J. Harper. Commissioned in 1988, with its final report presented in 1991, its stated purpose was "to examine the relationship between the Aboriginal peoples of Manitoba and the justice system."
The criminal law of Canada is under the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada. The power to enact criminal law is derived from section 91(27) of the Constitution Act, 1867. Most criminal laws have been codified in the Criminal Code, as well as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Youth Criminal Justice Act and several other peripheral statutes.
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Charles Randal Smith is a former Canadian pathologist known for performing flawed child autopsies that resulted in wrongful convictions.
Manitoba Justice, or the Department of Justice, is the provincial government department responsible for administering the Crown Law justice systems in the province of Manitoba.
Bruce A. MacFarlane is a Canadian lawyer, Crown prosecutor, legal scholar, and former federal and provincial Department of Justice official.
Edward N. "Ted" Hughes was a Canadian judge. He was best known for overseeing prominent investigations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, one of which led to the resignation of Premier Bill Vander Zalm.
The Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin—known as the Kaufman Commission or the Morin Inquiry—was a 1996 royal commission appointed by the Government of Ontario to address the wrongful conviction in 1992 of Guy Paul Morin for the murder of Christine Jessop on 3 October 1984, for which he was exonerated by DNA evidence on 23 January 1995.
Stony Mountain Institution is a federal multi-security complex located in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood immediately adjacent to the community of Stony Mountain, Manitoba, about 24 km (15 mi) from Winnipeg.
Lawrence A. Poitras was a judge in the Canadian province of Quebec. He was best known for serving on an inquiry into the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall and overseeing a high-profile public inquiry into the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.
Nicole Redhead is a mother convicted of the 2009 manslaughter of her own 21-month-old daughter, Jaylene Redhead-Sanderson, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jaylene's death led to extensive public criticism regarding the monitoring of vulnerable children in Canada.
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