|
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
on Joyce Milgaard | Got a comment? Post
it on the blog | Sigrid
MacDonald's blogspot
Commission
of Inquiry Into the Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard:
(Page 10)
Honourable Mr. Justice Edward
P. MacCallum, Commissioner
| Commission website
More
background (also see
links on sidebar) Sask to
give inquiry another $700,000
Rape victims never told
Fisher confessed to crimes
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, April 19, 2005
Saskatoon police never told
two women that the man who had raped them had been caught, had
confessed and was sent to jail, the Milgaard inquiry heard Monday.
Instead, the women learned
of Larry Fisher's 1971 convictions 20 years later from David
Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard, they said.
Hearing the news from an unofficial
source was upsetting, one of the women told the inquiry.
"I didn't think it was
up to a total stranger. I thought that's what the police are
for," said the woman who was sexually assaulted Nov. 14,
1968, when she was 16, and who will be known in documents as
victim No. 2.
Joyce Milgaard spoke to Fisher's
rape victims in 1990 and 1991, when she was gathering evidence
to help David's application to have his case reopened.
Victim No. 1, who was raped
Oct. 21, 1968, when she was 22, said she wished she had known
over the years that her assailant had been caught.
James Lockyer, Joyce Milgaard's
lawyer, asked the women if they had ever received apologies from
police or any other authorities for having been left in the dark
for so long. Neither had.
The question led to Commissioner
Edward MacCallum telling Lockyer that whether Fisher's rape victims
received apologies is not relevant to the commission, saying
that matter is "collateral" to the commission's mandate.
Lockyer responded that the
victims not being informed of Fisher's conviction was part of
the concealment of information which led to David Milgaard's
23 years of imprisonment for the crime he didn't commit.
The revelation of Fisher's
other convictions, in an anonymous phone call to Milgaard's lawyer
in 1990, led to Milgaard's 1992 release, his eventual exoneration
through DNA evidence and Fisher's 1999 conviction for Miller's
murder, Lockyer said.
MacCallum said he has not heard
enough evidence to characterize police actions as concealment.
The failure of police and justice
officials to apologize is indicative of attitudes, especially
within institutions, he said.
Apologies from police at another
wrongful conviction inquiry were cathartic, Lockyer said, referring
to that of Guy Paul Morin, who served 18 months for the 1984
murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessop.
Neither of Monday's witnesses
has received an explanation for why she wasn't told about Fisher,
they said.
"Everybody I ask, they
say the same thing, they don't have the answer," victim
No. 2 said. "I'd like to know who does know."
Lawyer Richard Elson, who represents
Saskatoon Police Service, said the police have an explanation,
which will emerge in future hearings, when members of the department
take the stand.
The women didn't realize that
a photograph of the rapist, Larry Fisher, had been among the
ones police had shown them while investigating their attacks,
they said. Neither was able to identify her assailant.
A letter entered at the wrongful
conviction inquiry Monday shows Saskatoon's top police officers
and Crown prosecutor T.D.R. Caldwell were aware that investigators
had shown Fisher's picture to both women.
The inquiry has received other
documents showing police were convinced initially that Miller's
killer was the same person who had sexually assaulted three women
in Saskatoon in previous months.
Monday's document was the first
to show that authorities were aware of Fisher as a suspect around
the time that David Milgaard was wrongfully prosecuted and convicted
of raping and murdering nursing assistant Gail Miller on Jan.
31, 1969.
The identities of the two women
who testified Monday are subject to a publication ban, as are
the identities of eight other sexual assault victims who will
testify or will be referred to at the inquiry.
A total publication ban was
implemented Monday, after a partial ban declared last week was
amended. Transcripts and public documents to be posted on the
commission's website will have the victims' names removed and
replaced with a victim number from one to 10, said commission
counsel Doug Hodson. Protecting the identities will require that
more than 300,000 pages of documents, plus each day's hearing
transcripts, be searched and edited before posting to the website.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Fisher's rape victims
testifying at Milgaard inquiry
CBC News, Apr 19, 2005
SASKATOON With Larry
Fisher's rape victims telling their stories at the David Milgaard
inquiry this week, some light may be shed on one of the perennial
mysteries of the case why didn't police investigate Larry
Fisher for Gail Miller's murder instead of Milgaard?
Milgaard spent 23 years in
prison for the 1969 murder. He was cleared by DNA evidence and
Fisher was convicted of the crime in 1999.
In the months leading up to
her rape and stabbing death, there were five sexual assaults
in Saskatoon.
All occurred in the same area
and shared chillingly similar details about women being grabbed
from behind, forced to undress at knifepoint then being sexually
assaulted.
In 1971, Fisher was convicted
of all five assaults. However, none of the victims was ever told
that the man who attacked them was in prison.
One victim told the inquiry
Monday she didn't find out Fisher had been convicted and imprisoned
until 20 years later and then the news came not from the
authorities but from Milgaard's mother.
The woman said she was upset
when she finally found out in 1990 or 1991.
"I didn't think it was
up to a total stranger," said the woman, who can't be named
because of a publication ban.
"I thought, 'That's what
the police are for.'"
Milgaard and his supporters
have always believed the authorities concealed Fisher's conviction
so they would not be pressured to reopen Milgaard's case.
The inquiry headed by Commissioner
Edward MacCallum is expected to run all year.
Rape victims not told
attacker confessed: inquiry
By TIM COOK, April 18, 2005
SASKATOON (CP) - Saskatoon
police didn't inform Larry Fisher's rape victims that he had
confessed to attacking them back in the late 1960s and was serving
time for the crimes, two of the women testified Monday.
On the stand at the inquiry
into David Milgaard's wrongful conviction, both women, who can't
be named under a publication ban, said that they didn't know
their cases had been solved until 1990, when Milgaard's mother
Joyce showed up on their doorstep as she was trying to collect
evidence that would free her son.
"The first person I heard
it from was Mrs. Milgaard," the first of Fisher's victims
testified under questioning Monday. "She just came over
to my house and wanted to talk to me. She just tried to tell
me that her son didn't do that, it was Larry Fisher."
Milgaard spent 23 years of
his life in prison for the January 1969 rape and murder of Gail
Miller - a crime that, 30 years later, he was exonerated for
after DNA evidence proved Fisher had done it.
Miller's murder happened around
the same time Fisher assaulted four other women in Saskatoon
and lawyers for the Milgaard family have long contended that
police tried to keep Fisher's attacks quiet so as to not cast
doubt on Milgaard's murder conviction.
"The concealment of the
crimes perpetrated on these ladies was a crucial factor in the
continuation of David Milgaard's wrongful conviction for 23 years
and it was the exposure of the crimes that were perpetrated on
these ladies which resulted in David Milgaard's eventual release,"
lawyer James Lockyer told Justice Edward MacCallum.
MacCallum pointed out that
there has been no evidence that the inquiry has heard so far
that would prove police concealed information. The lawyer for
the Saskatoon Police Service said that future witnesses will
explain why Fisher's victims were not told of his confessions.
The inquiry has heard how Fisher's
first-known victim was attacked three months prior to Miller's
death in October 1968. The second and third were attacked November
of that same year and the fourth in February 1970.
During that time, police were
building their murder case against 16-year-old Milgaard, who
was passing through town with friends on the morning Miller was
murdered.
Fisher did not come to the
police's attention until September 1970, eight months after Milgaard
was convicted. He was arrested by police in Fort Garry, Man.,
while assaulting another woman.
Fisher pleaded guilty to that
assault, plus another assault a month earlier also in Fort Garry.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was eventually charged
with all four attacks in Saskatoon and pleaded guilty to those
as well.
Fisher's second victim testified
that she is bothered by the fact that she had to find out about
Fisher's conviction from Joyce Milgaard.
"I didn't think it was
up to a total stranger, I figured that is what the police are
for," she said.
The rest of Fisher's victims
are scheduled to testify this week.
MacCallum's task is to examine
all of the evidence surrounding David Milgaard's wrongful conviction
and how the authorities handled exculpatory evidence in the years
that followed.
He cannot assign blame, but
can make recommendations to prevent a similar occurrence.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/04/18/pf-1002839.html
Woman groped
by Fisher a block from where Miller was murdered
Broadcast News, April 19,
2005
SASKATOON -- A woman groped
by a man within minutes of Gail Miller's 1969 murder only about
a block from where it happened says there is no doubt her attacker
was Larry Fisher.
Testifying at the David Milgaard
inquiry in Saskatoon Tuesday, the woman said she always believed
the person who attacked her was the same person that murdered
Miller.
She said she told police about
the attack right after it happened.
But outside of some initial
interviews and questions, she said didn't hear from investigators
again.
It wasn't until she saw Fisher's
picture in a 1991 newspaper article that she realized he was
her attacker.
Milgaard spent 23 years in
prison for Miller's rape and murder a crime that DNA evidence
would eventually link to Fisher.
Milgaard inquiry hears
from more women who had run-ins with Larry Fisher
TIM COOK, April 19, 2005
SASKATOON (CP) - A woman who
was groped by a man within minutes of Gail Miller's 1969 murder
in the same neighbourhood where it happened says there is no
doubt in her mind that her attacker was Larry Fisher.
The woman, who cannot be named
because of a publication ban, appeared Tuesday at the inquiry
into David Milgaard's wrongful conviction in Miller's death.
She testified she always believed
the person who forcefully ran his hands up her legs that morning
was the same person who raped and killed Miller.
She said she told police about
the attack on the same day it happened after she found out that
Miller had been killed.
But outside of the initial
interview, a trip to the police station to be shown some mug
shots and a follow-up meeting with the RCMP, she said she can't
remember hearing from investigators again.
It wasn't until a 1991 newspaper
article about Milgaard that the woman realized it was Fisher
who had attacked her.
The article had a picture of
Fisher with it. The woman said she instantly recognized him.
"I started crying and
said, 'Oh my God. That is the person that attacked me,' "
the woman said. "I'm absolutely 100 per cent sure. It was
like I was there all over again."
After she saw the photo, the
woman testified that she got in touch with Milgaard's lawyer
to tell her story.
"I was very concerned
that something was not right and that an injustice had been done,"
she said.
A year later she testified
at the Supreme Court hearing that led to Milgaard's conviction
being overturned.
Milgaard spent 23 years in
prison for Miller's murder before he was released. DNA evidence
eventually linked Fisher to the crime.
Miller's murder happened around
the same time Fisher assaulted four other women in Saskatoon.
Lawyers for the Milgaard family
have long contended that police tried to keep Fisher's attacks
quiet so as to not cast doubt on Milgaard's murder conviction.
However, the inquiry has heard no direct evidence to support
that.
Police records show investigators
didn't open a separate file to document the second attack on
the morning Miller was murdered. Instead they chose to include
the woman's statement in Miller's file.
The woman, who was 19 at the
time, said she told officers her attacker was a stocky man who
was older than she was.
Milgaard was a lanky 16-year-old
at the time.
The woman did remember one
officer telling her she was lucky she wasn't the one who was
killed.
"The comment was, 'you
know, you were very lucky you were wearing slacks that day because
somebody got it right after you and they were wearing a dress,'
" the woman testified.
"That was one of the comments
that has always stuck with me."
Under cross-examination, Fisher's
lawyer, Brian Beresh, questioned the woman about why the description
of her attacker in 1969 contained no facial features, but she
was able to recognize Fisher immediately more than 20 years later.
Beresh used a friendly letter
the woman wrote to Milgaard's lawyer after the Supreme Court
hearing to suggest that the woman was sympathetic to Milgaard's
cause.
"It appears that you see
yourself there as part of somebody's team," Beresh said.
"I guess maybe you are
putting that into that sir," the woman responded. "I
was writing a note. I had no idea around the protocols or what
one has to do or say or the behaviours."
Justice Edward MacCallum, the
judge hearing the inquiry, must examine all the evidence surrounding
Milgaard's wrongful conviction and how the authorities handled
information that pointed toward his innocence.
He cannot assign blame, but
can make recommendations to prevent something similar from happening.
The inquiry is scheduled to
hear from one more of Fisher's assault victims on Wednesday before
it adjourns for the month of May.
When the hearing reconvenes,
police officers involved in the Milgaard case are to begin giving
their evidence.
Woman identifies
Fisher as attacker
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, April 20, 2005
A Saskatoon woman who was indecently
assaulted on Jan. 31, 1969 -- the morning Gail Miller was raped
and murdered -- said she recognized Larry Fisher as her attacker
the instant she saw his photograph in a Toronto newspaper in
1991.
But Fisher's lawyer tried Tuesday
at the Milgaard inquiry to distance his client from the assault,
for which no one was ever charged. The day of the attacks, Saskatoon
police took a statement from the then-19-year-old university
student and had her look at mug shots of possible suspects.
She was not able to identify
her assailant from the photos, but said police told her the same
man had "got" a woman wearing a dress the same day.
The witness, known in public
documents as victim No. 4, said she always believed that the
man sent to prison for Miller's murder was the same person who
had assaulted her.
David Milgaard was wrongfully
convicted of Miller's murder and spent 23 years in prison before
the Supreme Court of Canada reviewed his case, including information
about Fisher's other crimes. DNA evidence proved Milgaard's innocence
in 1997 and was used to help convict Fisher in 1999.
Brian Beresh, Fisher's lawyer,
questioned the woman on differences in the way she described
the assault from statements to police in 1969 and later testimony
in the early 1990s.
The woman reported to police
in 1969 that a man she encountered as she walked on Avenue H
South shortly after 7 a.m. ran his hands up and down her legs,
followed her briefly afterward and then disappeared down an alley.
In 1992, she told the Supreme Court the man ran his hand over
her crotch.
She said Tuesday she was less
explicit in 1969 in front of her father and the male police officers
who were questioning her. Beresh also suggested a letter the
woman wrote to Milgaard's lawyer, Hersh Wolch, showed she had
developed sympathy for the Milgaards. The woman said she was
living in Toronto in 1991 when she saw a newspaper article about
Milgaard's attempts to have his case reopened. The article included
photographs of Milgaard and Fisher. She said her recognition
of Fisher was "absolutely, 100 per cent sure."
"I felt like I was there
all over again," she said, recalling she began to shake
and cry when she saw the picture in the paper.
The witness said she was confused
because it seemed the man who assaulted her had not, after all,
been convicted. She didn't go to the authorities until another
story about Milgaard appeared in the paper a short time later.
She eventually got a home number
for Milgaard's lawyer at the time, David Asper. Asper and the
Milgaards had never heard of a second assault on the morning
of Miller's murder, but they obtained a statement from her. She
eventually testified at the Supreme Court.
Unlike other sexual assault
victim witnesses, victim No. 4 testified in the open hearing
room. She spoke with confidence and sometimes sparred with Beresh,
pointing out that some of his questions were redundant.
The inquiry also heard Tuesday
from another of Fisher's victims who was never told that Fisher
had confessed to sexually assaulting her. That woman, known in
documents as victim No. 3, was dragged down an alley near Wiggins
Avenue on Nov. 29, 1968, and told to undress. Her assailant ran
away when a car came down the alley.
She was shown photographs when
she reported the incident and again after Gail Miller was murdered,
but was not able to identify her assailant. When Miller was killed,
the woman said her mother had commented that it could have been
her.
The woman said she learned
in 1991 from Joyce Milgaard that Fisher had been convicted of
assaulting her. Fisher had confessed to that attempted sexual
assault at the same time he confessed to raping another woman
just three weeks after Milgaard was convicted of killing Miller.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Rape victims left
in dark about Fisher
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, April 21, 2005
Larry Fisher raped a teenager
in a vicious attack on Avenue B South three weeks after David
Milgaard was wrongfully convicted for Fisher's rape and murder
of Gail Miller.
The victim told the Milgaard
inquiry Wednesday she was able to put the Feb. 21, 1970, attack
out of her mind until 1991, when Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard,
approached her to ask if she knew Fisher had been convicted of
the crime. The conversation opened the door to flashbacks that
have caused the woman extreme anxiety ever since, she said.
"After she came into my
life, she opened that door I had slammed on that attack. I had
put that out of my mind. All the flashbacks of the attack came
back and I had to deal with everything else that had happened
to me," she said.
Saskatoon police told the woman,
known in public documents as victim No. 5, that her attacker
had been caught in Winnipeg and had confessed to raping her,
she said.
Three of Fisher's other victims
from 1968 have said police never told them he had been charged
and pleaded guilty in 1971 to offences against them. Those women
said Joyce Milgaard was the first to tell them, in 1991, that
Fisher confessed to the Saskatoon sexual assaults.
Fisher had been caught raping
a woman in Winnipeg in September 1970. He pleaded guilty to two
rapes in Winnipeg and three rapes and an attempted rape in Saskatoon.
A 1971 police report which
closed victim No. 5's case file noted the victim had been informed
of "the alleged mental condition of the accused."
The woman was told her attacker
would serve time at a mental institution, she said Wednesday.
The woman told Joyce Milgaard
that one of the officers who told her about Fisher's arrest said
the assault was similar to the Miller attack, according to a
1991 report written by Paul Henderson, a private investigator
who was with Joyce Milgaard when she spoke with the victim.
At the time, Milgaard was gathering
evidence to support her efforts to have David's case reopened.
The Supreme Court of Canada
heard the matter in 1992 and quashed the conviction. Two days
later, 23 years after the murder, Milgaard was released. In 1997,
DNA proved his innocence and helped convict Fisher of the crime
in 1999.
Joyce Milgaard has accused
police and justice officials of covering up information that
could have helped to free David years sooner.
The commission of inquiry,
which began hearings in January, is looking into the original
police investigation, Milgaard's prosecution and wrongful conviction
and whether the case should have been reopened when new information
became available.
The attack against victim No.
5 was among four Saskatoon assaults outlined in a March 17, 1971,
letter from Saskatoon deputy police chief L.J. Corey to the Regina
prosecutor who handled the Saskatoon charges against Fisher.
The letter states that Crown
prosecutor T.D.R. Caldwell had asked police to forward a summary
of the four Saskatoon offences to Regina.
The other assaults occurred
before Miller's murder, in October and November 1968.
Documents now before the commission
show that when police were investigating Miller's death, they
initially thought the killer was the same person who had committed
the October and November assaults.
Caldwell prosecuted Milgaard
at his 1970 trial.
When Fisher was caught in Winnipeg
in the fall of 1970, Saskatoon detective Eddy Karst was sent
to Winnipeg to interview him. Karst was a lead investigator in
the Miller investigation.
Fisher was sent from Winnipeg
to Regina, not Saskatoon, to plead guilty to the charges. He
was sentenced to jail terms concurrent with the time he was already
serving for the Winnipeg rapes.
The inquiry has adjourned for
a previously scheduled five-week break. Hearings resume May 30
at the Radisson Hotel.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
<
< < Page 9 |
page 11 > > >
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
