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- Lawyers to take on fight
of Wood murder conviction
New witness evidence hints at wrongful conviction
Janet French, The StarPhoenix,
February 18, 2005
Two high-profile defence lawyers
have taken on the case of Danny Wood, a Saskatchewan prisoner
twice convicted of murder. James Lockyer, a director with the
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, and Hersh Wolch,
the lawyer for wrongly imprisoned David Milgaard, have joined
the 51-year-old's defence team.
On Tuesday, federal Justice
Minister Irwin Cotler announced he is referring one of Wood's
first-degree murder convictions to the Alberta Court of Appeal
in Calgary because a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.
In 1984, a jury convicted Wood
of the 1979 murder of 50-year-old Merla Laycock in Calgary. The
Alberta Court of Appeal later overturned that ruling and ordered
a second trial in 1990, where a judge again convicted him.
Despite years in and out of
court, neither the Crown or defence were told the Crown's key
eyewitness had told police she saw a man other than Wood with
the victim shortly before she died.
"It makes the whole trial
a complete fraud," one of Wood's Saskatoon lawyers, Barry
Morgan, said.
Morgan, along with his partner
Janice Theberge, has been representing Wood since 1999.
In 1983, Wood was also convicted
of the Toronto sex slaying of Judy Delisle. After serving 23
years, he maintains his innocence in both cases, Morgan said.
"I have no question in
my mind that Danny Wood did not get a fair trial (in the Calgary
killing) and that's just wrong," Morgan said.
The new evidence was uncovered
when a lawyer with the Justice Department's criminal conviction
review group stumbled on the information after Wood applied to
the minister for a review of his case. Five days after the murder,
the key witness had identified a different man as the one she
saw with the victim, then five years later identified Wood as
the man, Morgan said. Any judge who heard that wouldn't have
thought Wood was the killer beyond a reasonable doubt, Morgan
said. Wood's original defence lawyer, Noel O'Brien, suspects
the police kept the evidence from him.
Morgan asked Wolch and Lockyer
to take on the case because of their expertise in defending the
wrongly convicted.
"If he's serving a life
sentence for a crime he didn't commit, then the sooner we know,
the better," Lockyer said Thursday.
"If (Wood) didn't commit
the crime, the person who did is out there," he said. "The
person who did it may be readily identifiable."
Investigators have DNA evidence
collected from semen in the victim's stockings. Lockyer will
be asking Alberta Justice to check the specimen against DNA samples
already in their data bank.
"If Mr. Wood didn't commit
the crime, it could be a very easy crime to solve," he said.
Wolch is hopeful the Alberta
Court of Appeal will order a new trial for Wood and that the
Crown will withdraw the charge if there's not enough evidence
to prosecute Wood.
Lockyer doesn't rule out examining
Wood's other murder conviction at a later date.
Despite Wood's two convictions,
Morgan said it's important the justice system re-examine his
case because multiple murderers are treated differently in jail.
He can't get conjugal visits and isn't enrolled in many programs
at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert where he is
incarcerated.
Morgan hopes the Alberta Court
of Appeal will hear Wood's case by year's end.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Cotler
orders review of murder conviction
By Kirk Makin, February
16, 2005
Federal Justice Minister Irwin
Cotler had asked the Alberta Court of Appeal to review convict
Danny William Wood's first-degree murder conviction in the 1979
death of Merla Laycock.
Mr. Cotler made the rare move
after counsel with the department's criminal conviction review
group uncovered fresh evidence capable of undermining Mr. Wood's
conviction.
After exhausting his appeals
several years ago, Mr. Wood asked the department to conduct what
is known as a Section 696.1 review of his case.
"This new and significant
evidence could have had an impact on the fairness of Mr. Wood's
trial and his conviction," the Justice Department said in
a release yesterday
© Copyright 2005 Bell
Globemedia Publishing Inc.
MINISTER OF JUSTICE REFERS
MURDER CASE TO ALBERTA COURT OF APPEAL
OTTAWA, February 15,
2005 -- Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada, today announced he has referred the first-degree murder
conviction of Danny William Wood to the Alberta Court of Appeal,
under the conviction review provisions of the Criminal Code.
Merla Laycock was found murdered
on the night of March 1, 1979 in Calgary , Alberta . Five years
later, Mr. Wood was charged with her murder. He was convicted
of first- degree murder by a judge and jury, but the conviction
was overturned by the Alberta Court of Appeal. He was subsequently
retried. On June 7, 1990 , he was convicted a second time and
sentenced to life imprisonment.
Further criminal appeals were
unsuccessful and Mr. Wood applied to the Minister of Justice
for a review of his murder conviction under s.690 (now section
696.1) of the Criminal Code.
During the course of the investigation,
counsel with the Department of Justice Canada 's Criminal Conviction
Review Group discovered that significant evidence was not disclosed
to
Mr. Wood or his counsel during any of his criminal proceedings.
This new and significant evidence could have had an impact on
the fairness of Mr. Wood's trial and his conviction. As a result,
the Minister is satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to
conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in this
case.
The Minister made his decision
after reviewing the Investigation Report, the submissions of
counsel for Mr. Wood and the Attorney General of Alberta, and
the recommendations of
Mr. Bernard Grenier, his Special Advisor on the criminal conviction
review process.
When the Minister of Justice
concludes that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred, he can
order a new trial or refer the matter to the Court of Appeal.
The Minister cannot decide guilt or innocence nor can he overturn
a conviction.
Pursuant to section 696.3(3)(a)(ii)
of the Criminal Code, the Minister is referring the matter
back to the Alberta Court of Appeal as an appeal against conviction.
The Alberta Court of Appeal is in the best position to assess
the relevance, reliability and potential impact of the undisclosed
evidence on the fairness of Mr. Wood's trial and his conviction.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
