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James Driskell
Denying errors hurts
confidence in justice system
The Edmonton Journal , Editorial,
December 04, 2003
When mistakes are made that
are so grave they deprive a man of his freedom, the least the
perpetrators can do is admit their error and learn from it.
Yet Manitoba justice officials
continue to ignore their complicity in the disturbing case of
James Driskell, not only fighting his request for a new trial
but opposing his bail application as well.
"They are not going to
show any accountability," said Driskell, who was freed on
bail last week by a Court of Queen's Bench justice after spending
13 years in prison for the 1990 murder of his friend, Perry Dean
Harder.
Driskell has not been cleared
of the crime, but neither has he been proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt, despite his 1991 conviction. Testimony and
evidence used in that prosecution have been so discredited, the
onus must now be on the Crown to mount a new case against him,
if it can.
During last week's hearing,
Justice John Scurfield said new revelations in the case would
have been enough to affect deliberations of the jury that found
him guilty of first-degree murder.
These include undisclosed payments
of at least $70,000 to witnesses who testified against Driskell,
and a key witness who believed he would receive immunity from
prosecution on another criminal charge in exchange for his testimony,
and who later recanted.
New DNA evidence showed hairs
found in Driskell's van did not come from the victim, contradicting
testimony from a police expert at his trial.
"The new evidence does
not simply identify procedural irregularities as suggested by
the Crown. It goes to the heart of their case," Scurfield
said.
The apparent bungling of the
Driskell case further erodes public confidence in the justice
system, adding yet another name to a growing list of those terribly
wronged -- David Milgaard, Guy-Paul Morin, Thomas Sophonow and,
closer to home, Jason Dix, who spent almost two years in jail
before the murder case against him collapsed.
Once again, it appears investigators
found a suspect first, then worked on developing "evidence"
to fit their version of the crime.
But what is equally disturbing
is the refusal of justice officials to admit their case was deeply
flawed and acknowledge that Driskell did not receive a fair trial.
Instead, they continue to oppose Driskell's application for a
new trial, which must be made directly to the justice minister
and which could take years to come about.
The case bears at least two
of the hallmarks of a wrongful conviction case, as identified
by James Lockyer, Driskell's lawyer and a founding director of
the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted -- paid or
jailhouse informants and bad science.
The case against Driskell relied
in part on the testimony of unreliable informants, as did the
cases against Sophonow, Morin and Dix.
As a result of the Dix case,
which relied on three paid informants, Alberta Justice has since
toughened its guidelines on the use of jailhouse informants,
but still allows their use.
In Manitoba, a government public
inquiry into the Sophonow case recommended a virtual ban on the
use of jailhouse informants.
In fairness to police and prosecutors,
it is not just the use of unreliable witnesses that has contributed
to wrongful convictions. In recent years, reliability of physical
evidence from crime scenes has been greatly improved by DNA science,
which wasn't available when men like Milgaard and Driskell were
tried and convicted. In response to the DNA results in the Driskell
case, the Manitoba government, despite its refusal to admit its
failings in his prosecution, has ordered a review of all serious
criminal cases in which hair evidence may have played a role
in the conviction.
These changes won't give James
Driskell back the past 13 years of his life. But they may help
prevent future miscarriages of justice and restore public confidence
in the criminal justice system.
© Copyright 2003 Edmonton
Journal
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 Truth can never be
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Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David
Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown
misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2
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- Stephen Williams:
Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police
- Terry
Arnold: : Snitch a
suicide?
- RCMP
scenario stings: Brian
Hutchinson starts digging
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Mohamed
- Nfld Defamation story:
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- Racism
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The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and
Sebastian Burns convictions
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