See also Prosecutors from hell | Sheila Gagne tape | See Christine Bartlett-Hughes | Diane Fairstein | What they are saying in the law journals: Conflicts of interest |The Seven Deadly Sins of prosecutors | Lessons from the Proulx case | Courageous prosecutor Terry Hinz | Miazga | Hansen | Quinney | Defence lawyers who perhaps love the Crown too much : Holgate | Dufour | Axworthy | the lawyers in the following waltzes of their clients to guilty verdicts: | Howard Gowan | Leon Walchuk | Don Smith | Jay Watson |

The Foster Parent Prosecutors: Sonja Hanson

Sonja Hansen is one of the few people involved in this case not to have advanced her career. We believe she had doubts early on since she has written some queries in the margins of her notes.

Nontheless, she has remained silent about her doubts.

Senior prosecutor Terry Hinz had refused the file before she and Matthew Miazga prosecuted sixteen people from a list of forty names provided by Sgt. Brian Dueck and Carol Bunko Ruys regarding allegations made by three children. There has been no explanation for why they chose those particular sixteen people to prosecute. The evidence Dueck provided was many hours of videotaped interviews conducted at the Saskatoon Police Station during October, 1991.

The children alleged that birth parents, foster parents and assorted relatives had held "baby barbecues," "swearing parties," sex abuse parties," "drinking blood parties" etc. Many of these people had not ever met or even heard of each other, much less get together for social occasions such as the children describe. The children allege babies were buried in the backyard of a specific address. No effort was made to substantiate this or any other of the children's preposterous stories. Read Miazga's own words as quoted by Dan Zakreski in the StarPhoenix June 199, 1999 feature, "Lies and Shattered Lives." Miazga's experts

Nonetheless, lengthy preliminary hearings were held and twelve people were ordered to stand trial. The first three, Helen R., Don R and Don W. were convicted and eventually received acquittals of sorts from the Supreme Court. Charges against the others were ordered stayed in January, 1993. However, the accused were not informed of this and Peter Klassen accepted a plea bargain because he was told that by doing so he could save eight members of his family. The bargain Crown Prosecutor Miazga made was to ask for a two year sentence. The judge gave him a four year sentence of which he served every day. He was not ever elligible for parole because he could not re-enact and receive therapy for crimes he did not commit.

It's time these prosecutors get set on their heels by judges who follow the law as happened to Prosecutor Nancy Rae in Port Hope, Ontario!

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