|
 January 25, 2005: The Federal government
released the
first national examination of the reasons for so many wrongful
convictions in Canada. This should be required reading for every prosecutor,
cop and criminal defence lawyer in the country. News
reports
Update on wrongful
convictions in Canada, October, 2004
back to <<<
forward to > > > | March,
2005: Terry Arnold found dead? New
: Blogging
RCMP informants
Thomas Sophonow
- Crown, cop lied: Stoppel
- Claim found
'groundless'
By ROBERT WILLIAMS, STAFF
REPORTER, Winnipeg Sun, Thursday, June 28, 2001
Two justice
officials told the family of murder victim Barbara Stoppel they
would introduce false evidence at Thomas Sophonow's third trial
indicating she was sexually assaulted, the dead woman's brother
states in court documents.
Rick Stoppel
made the allegation in testimony behind closed doors on May 1
during Sophonow's wrongful conviction hearing. The public had
been barred from the room because lawyers for the two justice
officials feared the testimony -- regardless of whether the allegation
of misconduct was true -- would damage their reputations.
"I think
it's fair to suggest to you, sir, that those of us in the room
all know that the media will immediately pound upon and report
that allegation, whether it be true or not," Randolph McNicol,
lawyer for Crown attorney Stuart Whitley, told commission head
Justice Peter Cory.
The in-camera
transcripts were released Tuesday after none of the lawyers involved
objected to them being made public.
In the closed-door
session, Rick Stoppel testified Whitley and lead police investigator
Ken Biener told his family evidence would be introduced at Sophonow's
third trial indicating Barbara Stoppel was sexually assaulted
-- even though officials knew it wasn't true.
"And what
reason were you given?" Stoppel's lawyer Jay Prober asked
him.
"Two reasons,"
Stoppel replied. "The first reason was to make Tom's life
harder when he was in jail at the time, and after that he was
found guilty. The second reason would have been to ensure, or
help ensure, that the case was going to be successful this time,
not like the other times."
Whitley and
Biener told the inquiry the conversation about the sexual assault
theory probably happened -- although they couldn't remember it.
But both denied they knew it to be false, and certainly would
never have resorted to fake evidence to convict Sophonow.
"If I
didn't believe it happened I wouldn't have advanced it,"
Whitley said under in-camera cross examination by Prober on May
9. "I wouldn't say such a thing to these people."
Police investigated
the allegation of misconduct at the request of inquiry commissioner
Peter de Cory, but found it groundless.
"It makes
no sense that this veteran Crown attorney and police officer
would do something both illegal and highly improbable and announce
it ahead of time to people who are essentially strangers,"
McNicol said yesterday.
Biener testified
he always believed Stoppel, 16, had been sexually assaulted the
night she was killed at a St. Boniface doughnut shop on Dec.
23, 1981.
Whitney said
the sexual assault theory was brought up in the third trial based
on a review of the evidence, the time Stoppel and the killer
were in the washroom and the opinion of the police a sexual assault
had taken place.
Prober said
yesterday Rick Stoppel's allegation supported the aspect of tunnel
vision in the prosecution of Sophonow, who was tried three times
for Stoppel's murder and spent almost four years in jail.
Sophonow was
exonerated by police last year and is seeking up to $10.2 million
in compensation for his ordeal.
Issue of compensation
for Thomas Sophonow now in hands of Manitoba judge
SCOTT EDMONDS, June 13,
2001
WINNIPEG (CP)
- The relatives of a teenager murdered in 1981 still suffer from
the miscarriage of justice that sent Thomas Sophonow to jail
for the killing, their lawyer said Tuesday. "They continue
to be victims in this matter," Jay Prober said at the end
of a judicial inquiry into Sophonow's wrongful conviction for
the murder of 16-year-old Barbara Stoppel.
"The Stoppels
have had their confidence and trust in the administration of
justice seriously shaken by what they've seen and what they've
heard in this inquiry."
For one thing,
he said they must live with the knowledge that the real killer
has escaped justice for almost 20 years.
Winnipeg police
have named Terry Arnold in court documents as a suspect, but
they have yet to lay any charges. Arnold has said he is innocent
of the killing.
Police questioned
and dismissed him as a suspect in 1982 because he had an alibi.
Arnold has
served time in a British Columbia prison for the murder of Christine
Marie Brown, 16, although his conviction was recently overturned
by the B.C. Appeal Court and he now faces a new trial.
Sophonow, 47,
attended most of the eight-month inquiry - which has already
cost the province almost $3 million - but elected to skip the
last few days to remain at his Vancouver area home.
His lawyer
Lyle Harris said the opening of old wounds has been painful for
his client, who has only been able to afford counselling since
the Manitoba government started picking up the tab last year.
"I'm kind
of hoping that Mr. Sophonow will eventually heal as a result
of this (inquiry)," said Harris. He had earlier told Peter
Cory, the retired Supreme Court justice who led the inquiry,
that it appears Sophonow will need counselling for the rest of
his life.
Barbara Stoppel's
mother, brother and sister attended the last day of the inquiry.
Rick Stoppel
said in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press Tuesday that
he's unsure if his family will ever see justice done in the case.
"So much
time has passed and witnesses memories have faded and evidence
has been destroyed."
Sophonow is
seeking between $8.4 million and $10.2 million in compensation
from the province for his wrongful conviction and the almost
four years he spent in prison.
Prober said
the Stoppels also deserve something.
He refused
to name a figure and said he's hoping only that Cory will urge
the province to at least consider compensation for the family
when it pays Sophonow for his ordeal.
Cory must now
decide what the province should pay Sophonow.
Provincial
lawyer Bill Olson claims Sophonow deserves less than $300,000
because his reputation and actions were partly to blame for his
fix almost 20 years ago.
Sophonow had
a criminal record in 1981 that Olson said justified withholding
bail. As well, he kept details of an alibi from police initially
and at one point even confessed to the murder, apparently to
escape from what he described as a gruelling 412-hour interrogation.
But all involved
in the inquiry admit that police and Crown attorneys at Sophonow's
three trials made their share of mistakes. The Manitoba Court
of Appeal turned Sophonow loose in 1985 because of the many foul-ups,
although the province didn't admit his innocence until last June.
Police didn't
fully investigate some leads and relied heavily on jailhouse
informants who were testifying in exchange for various rewards.
Crown attorneys
didn't disclose evidence to defence lawyers that might have helped
them keep Sophonow from being convicted twice for the murder.
His first jury failed to agree on a verdict.
Lawyer Evan
Roitenberg, representing the Association In Defence of the Wrongly
Convicted, said the justice system can learn a lot from the mistakes
made in the Sophonow case that were revealed during the inquiry.
"It was
an eye-opening experience for everybody involved," he said.
"I don't
think the commissioner can help but see there was a problem."
Cory said he
hopes the report he must write before Sept. 30 can help improve
the justice system in the rest of Canada as well as in Manitoba.
Sophonow seeks
$10M: Province says wrongly convicted man deserves only $263,000
By Leah Janzen, Tue, Jun
12, 2001
THOMAS Sophonow
wants up to $10.2 million for the pain and losses he suffered
as a result of a wrongful murder conviction, but the province
is prepared to pay only $263,000.
Sophonow's
lawyer, Lyle Harris, said his client should be paid between $8.4
million and $10.2 million to compensate him for prison time,
emotional suffering and counselling costs associated with being
falsely accused of Barbara Stoppel's 1981 murder.
Bill Olson,
the lawyer acting on behalf of the province, said Sophonow should
receive $263,000 at most for his ordeal because his own behaviour
helped put him behind bars.
"It's
the reputation the individual has and not the one he wishes he
had that the law will protect,'' Olson said, arguing that Sophonow
was a petty criminal with a bizarre personality before the wrongful
conviction.
He also said
Sophonow's case was not handled any differently than any other
criminal case at the time.
"There
was no attempt by any person or party to cause (Sophonow) undue
pain or hardship,'' he said. "While (Sophonow) is deserving
of an apology this is not a case which should attract any recommendation
of a significant award of compensation."
Harris, however,
outlined a different scenario for inquiry commissioner Peter
Cory.
As a result
of the nearly four years he spent behind bars, Sophonow has suffered
from depression, psychotic episodes, family problems and post-traumatic
stress disorder.
Harris said
Sophonow should be paid $2 million in general damages and nearly
$4 million in punitive damages.
Sophonow should
also receive payments to cover interest, lost wages, medical
costs and the money his family spent to visit him in prison.
Harris invited
Cory to choose between two interest calculations that account
for the range in compensation being sought.
In making his
submissions, Harris said he was seeking $3,942,000 in punitive
damages to account for the misconduct of police officers and
Crown attorneys who investigated and prosecuted Sophonow for
Stoppel's murder.
"Some
of the actions of some of the people made things immeasurably
worse for (Sophonow) and contributed to the certainty of his
conviction,'' Harris said.
Harris told
Cory that Sophonow needs to be compensated for the fact that
the arresting officers lied to him during an initial interrogation
in an effort to elicit a confession.
Those same
officers acted improperly when they subjected Sophonow to a strip
search and invasive body-cavity search midway through the interview,
Harris charged.
Police also
failed to alert Crown attorneys that Sophonow's alibi involving
handing out Christmas stockings to sick children in hospital
had essentially checked out.
Sophonow was
denied the right to a fair trial, Harris said, because the prosecutors
involved in the case did not tell Sophonow's lawyers about information
that supported the man's defence.
And, Harris
said, police and Crown attorneys were wrong when they used three
jailhouse informants to testify against Sophonow at his second
and third trials.
One of those
informants was blackmailed by police into testifying and another
had 26 fraud-related charges dropped in exchange for his testimony
against Sophonow.
Harris also
noted that after Sophonow was acquitted by the Manitoba Court
of Appeal in 1985, high-profile politicians continued to question
his innocence.
Bill Norrie,
mayor of Winnipeg at the time, then attorney general Roland Penner
and Winnipeg's chief of police Herb Stephen all publicly announced
they felt the right man had been prosecuted for Stoppel's murder.
"Those
comments were the same as saying a guilty man walked,'' said
Harris. "They stigmatized him."
But Olson countered
that while errors may have been made in the original investigation
and prosecution, Sophonow's actions helped seal his fate.
Because Sophonow
lied to police and did not quickly disclose his alibi to them,
he should not be entitled to any compensation, Olson said.
Olson argued
that Sophonow was not granted bail before and between his three
trials because he had an old police record for minor offences.
If Cory does
decide to compensate Sophonow he should adhere to the existing
cap attached to personal-injury claims, Olson said.
At most, Olson
said, Sophonow should be given $150,000 in general damages and
$113,000 to cover lost earnings.
Olson also
conceded Sophonow should receive "several thousand dollars"
a year to cover counselling costs.
Manitoba Justice
officials announced yesterday that Cory's final report -- originally
expected by the end of this month -- will now be tabled by Sept.
30 to allow for delays early in the inquiry associated to the
ongoing police investigation of Stoppel's murder.
Jail informants
shouldn't be used in trials, lawyer tells Winnipeg inquiry
GLENN CHEATER, June 8, 2001
WINNIPEG (CP)
- Jailhouse informants are notorious liars and should almost
never be used in criminal prosecutions, the inquiry into the
wrongful conviction of Thomas Sophonow was told Thursday.
"It is clear from all who have dealt with them - the rat,
as they're affectionately known - that jailhouse informants are
inherently unreliable," inquiry counsel Richard Wolson told
commissioner Peter Cory.
"Without
absolute corroboration, the use of jailhouse informants ought
to be abandoned."
Sophonow spent
nearly four years in jail, wrongly convicted of the 1981 murder
of 16-year-old Barbara Stoppel in Winnipeg. He is but one of
many who have been convicted, at least in part, on the evidence
of informants who are simply not credible, said Wolson.
Three men testified
at Sophonow's various trials that he had confessed to them while
in custody. One faced deportation to Hong Kong until police dropped
26 fraud charges against him in exchange for testifying.
When given
a lie detector test, the man's eagerness to get out of jail was
noted as his main motivation in snitching. The other two informants
had testified against numerous cellmates - police threatened
to expose one as a rat unless he testified against Sophonow while
the other was a convicted perjurer.
Wolson and
co-counsel Aaron London made numerous other recommendations,
many which would force police to videotape their investigation.
Interviews
with suspects, eyewitnesses and anyone who may be able to confirm
or deny an alibi should all be taped, preferably on videotape,
they said.
Eyewitnesses
cause even more miscarriages of justice than informants, the
inquiry heard. Many initially have trouble identifying a suspect
in a lineup, but end up convinced they've fingered the guilty
culprit, said Mel Green of the Association in Defence of the
Wrongly Convicted.
"They
appear to be most reliable, the most convincing, the most compelling
witnesses at trial," said Green.
"It's
that honest self-delusion of their conviction and the rightness
of their finger pointing at the accused in the (prisoner's) box
that leads to wrongful convictions."
Green argued
that juries should always be told how unreliable eyewitnesses
can be, prompting Cory to wonder aloud if too many safeguards
would make it impossible to convict anyone.
Four eyewitnesses
placed Sophonow at the scene of Stoppel's 1981 murder.
Three failed
to positively identify Sophonow in police lineups, but later
became key witnesses against him. One still maintains he's the
killer.
The fourth
witness, who claimed to have chased and grappled with the killer
as he fled the doughnut shop where Stoppel was attacked, later
identified several men as the murderer, including a newspaper
reporter covering the case.
Sophonow has
frequently come under attack for being his own worst enemy. He
failed to initially disclose his alibi, made damning admissions
to police, and hindered efforts of a string of lawyers who defended
him.
But Wolson
laid the blame of the wrongful conviction squarely on the police
and Crown attorneys in the case.
Police knew
their eyewitnesses were unreliable, their informants untrustworthy,
and that Sophonow had an alibi which seriously undermined their
case, he charged.
They bullied
Sophonow and hid key information from Crown attorneys, while
the Crown failed to inform defence lawyers of critical evidence,
said Wolson.
The final stage
of the eight-month-long inquiry began with Manitoba's former
chief prosecutor heatedly denying charges that he raised sexual
assault allegations in Sophonow's third trial, even though he
knew he couldn't prove them.
"We did
have evidence," said Stu Whitley. "My job was to put
forward the argument."
In defending
his reputation, Whitley revealed previously sealed evidence from
Rick Stoppel, Barbara's brother. Stoppel told the inquiry during
in-camera testimony last month that Whitley had admitted he couldn't
prove sexual assault allegations but was going to raise them
in court anyway.
Whitley suggested
Rick Stoppel may have been confused because what he had been
told was that there was no evidence Barbara Stoppel invited a
sexual attack.
Inquiry must
put price on Sophonow suffering: It's time to tally cost of injustice
By Leah Janzen, Mon, Jun
4, 2001
WHAT is four
years behind bars worth for an innocent man in his 20s?
After eight
months of testimony exploring how it was that Thomas Sophonow
was charged, convicted and jailed for the 1981 murder of 16-year-old
Barbara Stoppel, inquiry arguments this week will finally turn
to money.
The compensation
amounts being sought will likely vary wildly.
On one side
are lawyers representing the province of Manitoba, who are expected
to argue the pain and suffering, loss of family relationships,
loss of liberty and loss of reputation that Sophonow suffered
are similar to those endured by workplace or car accident victims.
As a result
of the similarities, the province has said compensation payments
to Sophonow should be capped at $265,000, according to guidelines
established in personal injury claims.
At the other
end of the spectrum, Sophonow's lawyers are expected to argue
for a dollar amount significantly higher.
The Sophonow
inquiry marks the first time in Canadian history where a judge
will address the issue of compensation for a wrongful conviction
as part of the inquiry process. Usually, compensation is negotiated
separately and in private.
As a result,
inquiry commissioner Peter Cory's final determination is expected
to set a legal precedent that would be used in similar cases
in the future.
Jay Prober,
the lawyer acting for the Stoppel family, said he may ask Cory,
a retired Supreme Court of Canada justice, to provide compensation
to his clients as well.
Lyle Harris,
Sophonow's compensation lawyer, would not reveal how much he
will ask Cory to award his client, who not only was assaulted
in jail but has suffered over the years since his release.
Earlier testimony
in the inquiry likened Sophonow to a prisoner of war. He has
suffered mental breakdowns, depression and has required time
away from his job as a machinist. His parents died before he
was acquitted by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 1985 and formally
exonerated last year.
Harris will
also argue Sophonow deserves compensation for the loss of income
he incurred as a result of being obsessed with proving his innocence
over the last 20 years.
Harris will
also ask Cory to consider awarding aggravated or punitive damages
to Sophonow as a result of the "egregious conduct"
of those involved in his arrest and prosecution.
As well, lawyers
involved in the inquiry will use their final submissions to suggest
recommendations to improve the justice system.
Sources close
to the inquiry said they suspect Cory will ultimately recommend
that all police interviews and interrogations be taped. And Cory
might also consider recommending that police lineups and photo
galleries be administered by officers with no knowledge of who
the suspect is to avoid the possibility of influencing witnesses.
Cory may also
make recommendations aimed at curbing the use of jailhouse informants.
In recent years,
a handful of high-profile victims of wrongful murder convictions
have been awarded compensation for their years wrongfully imprisoned
and to reimburse them for lost wages, pain and suffering.
Most recently,
David Milgaard -- who spent 23 years in prison for a murder he
did not commit -- was awarded $10 million in a wrongful-conviction
settlement from the Saskatchewan government in 1999.
Donald Marshall
Jr., the Nova Scotia native jailed for 11 years for a murder
he did not commit, was awarded payments and annuities totalling
about $1.1 million.
Guy Paul Morin,
wrongly convicted of murdering a nine-year-old Toronto girl,
was awarded $1.2 million for his ordeal.
But in each
of those cases compensation was determined outside a public inquiry.
Final submissions
at the inquiry are set to begin Thursday.
back to <<<
|
