|
Commission
of Inquiry Into the Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard:
(Page 9)
Honourable Mr. Justice Edward
P. MacCallum, Commissioner
| Commission website
Pre-inquiry
publicity | 2004
| Day 1 | Day
2 | Page 3 | Page
4 | Page 5: The Relentless
interrogation of Nichol John | Page
6 | Lockyer
shows similarities with Guy Paul Morin investigation | Profile
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it on the blog | Sigrid
MacDonald's blogspot
More
background (also see links on sidebar) Sask
to give inquiry another $700,000
Dueck shown
with former chief Joe Penkala during after sod-turning for Brief
Detox Center at Larson House in Saskatoon, 2003
Former police chief gives
previously unseen documents to Milgaard inquiry
April 14, 2005
SASKATOON (CP) -- The first
of a former Saskatoon police chief's personal documents on the
David Milgaard case -- some of them with previously unknown information
-- were turned over Thursday to the inquiry examining Milgaard's
wrongful conviction for murder.
The revelation of the documents
that have been held since 1969 by Joseph Penkala demonstrates
why disclosure rules are needed to force authorities to hand
over information in cases alleging wrongful conviction, said
James Lockyer, the lawyer for Milgaard's mother Joyce.
"Penkala didn't have an
obligation and he should have had that obligation," said
Lockyer. "That's a very important systemic issue at this
inquiry."
Penkala was a sergeant who
helped investigate the murder of nursing aide Gail Miller, a
crime for which Milgaard spent 23 years locked up in prison before
he was cleared by DNA evidence.
Penkala later became chief
of police and retired in 1991.
Doug Hodson, the lawyer for
the commission of inquiry, said Penkala readily co-operated when
asked to provide any documents he had on the original investigation,
the prosecution and whether the case should have been reopened
based on information police and justice officials received after
Milgaard's conviction.
Penkala turned over binders
containing about 250 pages of information.
Hodson admitted even he had
not seen some of the documents before.
While Penkala was not required
by law to disclose the documents sooner, it doesn't mean he shouldn't
have, Lockyer said in an interview.
It is just one example of information
uncovered so far in the inquiry that would have helped Milgaard
convince the federal justice minister to review his case between
1988 and 1991, Lockyer said.
"There's all sorts of
stuff we're now seeing that was never available to David back
in those years," Lockyer said.
Many of the documents now coming
out at the inquiry reveal police were correctly convinced Miller's
killer was the same person who sexually assaulted three other
young women in the months before Miller's rape and murder.
Larry Fisher had confessed
to the earlier rapes back in 1970, but it wasn't until 1999 that
he was finally convicted in Miller's death.
The first of the Penkala documents
submitted as evidence Thursday was an April 6, 1969, letter from
a Regina RCMP inspector referring to scientific analysis of body
fluid substances from those previous rape victims. A note typed
at the top of the letter states: "No copies elsewhere."
Lockyer said the documents
were never disclosed to Milgaard's defence team when it argued
before the Supreme Court of Canada that the Miller murder and
Fisher rapes were connected.
Even as the prosecution denied
there was a connection, the police had made that very tie-in
to the extent of having forensic comparisons made back in 1969,
he pointed out.
"The extent to which it
was taking place was unknown to us until this week," he
said. "This kind of disclosure should have been made instantly
by the Department of Justice as soon as David put in his application
in 1988 . . . It should be an open box policy when someone makes
what appears to be a legitimate claim of wrongful conviction.
The forensic reports that have now come up would have been extremely
handy back in those years."
Although the Penkala letter
has been presented as evidence, no witnesses have yet commented
upon its significance. Penkala is expected to testify in June,
at which point lawyers representing the 12 parties with standing
are entitled to question him about the document collection.
The inquiry resumes Monday
with testimony from Fisher's rape victims. After that, the inquiry
will shift its focus to the police investigators.
Penkala submits Miller papers
Former police chief gives own files to inquiry
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, April 15, 2005
Former Saskatoon police chief
Joseph Penkala only recently turned over to the Milgaard inquiry
his personal collection of documents -- two binders containing
200 to 300 pages of information about the 1969 murder of Gail
Miller and related matters.
The revelation of the long-held
documents is an example of why disclosure rules are needed to
force authorities to hand over information in cases alleging
wrongful conviction, lawyer James Lockyer says. "Penkala
didn't have an obligation and he should have had that obligation.
That's a very important systemic issue at this inquiry."
Penkala was a sergeant who
helped investigate the Miller murder. He later became chief of
police and retired in 1991.
David Milgaard was wrongfully
convicted of the murder and spent 23 years in prison before being
released in 1992. DNA evidence was used to convict serial rapist
Larry Fisher of the crime in 1999.
Commission counsel Doug Hodson
told the inquiry Penkala co-operated when asked to provide any
documents he had related to the mandate of the commission of
inquiry, which is looking into the original investigation, the
prosecution and whether the case should have been reopened based
on information police and justice officials received after the
conviction.
Penkala turned over two binders
which contained documents, notes and newspaper clippings, including
some documents Hodson said he had not been seen before.
Hodson entered the first of
the Penkala documents as evidence at the inquiry Thursday. It
was an April 6, 1969, letter from a Regina RCMP inspector referring
to scientific analysis of body fluid substances from other women
who had been sexually assaulted in Saskatoon in the months before
Miller's death. A note typed at the top of the letter states,
"no copies elsewhere."
Although the letter has been
presented as evidence, no witnesses have yet commented upon its
significance. Penkala is expected to testify in June, at which
point lawyers representing the 12 parties with standing are entitled
to question him about the document collection.
While Penkala was not required
by law to disclose the documents sooner, it doesn't mean he shouldn't
have, Lockyer said in an interview Thursday.
The document cache shows how
the law has unfairly allowed individuals to hold back information
that could help undo wrongful convictions, said Lockyer, who
represents David Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard.
It is just one example of information
uncovered so far in the inquiry that would have helped Milgaard
convince the federal justice minister to review his case between
1988 and 1991, Lockyer said.
"There's all sorts of
stuff we're now seeing that was never available to David back
in those years," Lockyer said.
Many of the documents now coming
out at the inquiry reveal police were correctly convinced Miller's
killer was the same person who sexually assaulted three other
young women in the months before Miller's rape and murder.
Those documents were never
disclosed to Milgaard's defence team when it argued before the
Supreme Court of Canada that the Miller murder and Fisher rapes
were connected, Lockyer said.
Even as the prosecution denied
there was a connection, "the police had made that very tie-in
to the extent of having forensic comparisons made back in 1969,"
he said.
"The extent to which it
was taking place was unknown to us until this week."
"This kind of disclosure
should have been made instantly by the Department of Justice
as soon as David put in his application in 1988. . . . It should
be an open box policy when someone makes what appears to be a
legitimate claim of wrongful conviction.
"The forensic reports
that have now come up would have been extremely handy back in
those years."
The Milgaard inquiry listened
Thursday to the accounts of three chillingly similar sexual assaults
Fisher committed in the months before he raped and murdered Gail
Miller.
The inquiry resumes Monday
afternoon with testimony from other women who were sexually assaulted
by Fisher in the months before he raped and killed Miller.
After that, the inquiry will
begin its second of three phases, which will focus on the police
investigators. Most of the police officers who were involved
in the murder investigation and later investigations related
to Milgaard's attempts to have the matter reopened will be called
to testify. Some have since died. Documents related to their
activities will be read into the record.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
At the end of March, an
internal Winnipeg
Police Report recealed that Inspector Ken Bieners had taken
evidence crucial to the Barbara Stoppel murder to his house and
that he destroyed some of it. Penkala took the Gail Miller files
home with him. Winnipeg police were concealing evidence to protect
RCMP informant Terry Arnold
who they knew to be a rapist/murdere and went on to commit more
crimes. Saskatoon Police were protecting RCMP informant Larry
Fisher.
We are told that Penkala
has cooperated and provided his entire file. How can we believe
him? What files has Dueck taken to his house now that he is retired?
(This may sound like a shrill theme but Dueck was involved with
murder investigations as well as framing innocent people for
sex crimes. I have been asking someone to look into the murder
of Hugh Beck, a former foster
child of Marie and Klassen, who was brutally killed shortly after
Dueck left his calling card on the man's table.
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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
