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This1999 column did not stop
the lies. About once a year, a columnist visits a courtroom and
is outraged anouth to write an article. Perjury
in our courtrooms goes on and on and on . . . Crying
Wolf by Christie Blatchford | Crying
Wolf - Christie Blatchford | Lawyerless
| Tracey Marcotte fights for
her day in court | No means No
| Ewanchuk decision | RCMP spies | Tisdale:
Land of rape and racism | Just
another Indian | Rape Shield
abuse | Karl Starratt | Richard
Coomber | "John Smith"
| Jamie Nelson |Eventually Supt. Dueck will be nailed . . .
Archives
This column
was online the week of May 23, 1999, Almost three years later,
it is still relevant, particularly since Saskatoon Police have
not yet apologized to David Milgaard for their malicious investigation.
In providing this text online, we give full credit to the writer.
We also want to track of media shift towards giving more play
to stories of gross injustice. The man named James in this story
must have worked very hard to get an established journalist to
write a column and we keep it here for him, too. We know that
Sun Media "own" the story. We are sorry that they haven't
kept it online. We do not see this story as piece to be tossed
aside after it has sold its papers for the week, but part of
an important segment of Canadian history unfolding.
Damn liars make a sham
of justice: Innocents suffer when perjurers are allowed free
rein to work their malice
By LICIA
CORBELLA, Calgary
Sun, May 23, 1999
While James has never spent
any time in jail and David Milgaard spent almost 23 years in
prison for a murder he didn't commit, both men have much in common.
Both are victims of false accusations
and witnesses who lied under oath. James' ex-wife has repeatedly
accused him of sexually abusing their adopted son.
After her first allegation
was proven false and malicious by psychologists, medical doctors
and social workers, James thought that would be the end of it.
But no. Even though his ex
has proven herself to be a perjurer -- which is a criminal offence
-- each new allegation is given as much weight as the first,
throwing the nine-year-old boy into limbo and James into unspeakable
agony.
Milgaard, of course, was charged
and convicted with raping and murdering nursing aide Gail Miller
in Saskatoon in 1970. In 1992, he was released from prison following
a review by the Supreme Court and then two years ago he was fully
exonerated when DNA tests proved that the semen found inside
Miller was not his. Earlier this week Milgaard was compensated
for the torment he endured with a $10-million tax-free settlement.
Nothing, however, can ever
return to Milgaard what he lost -- which is most of his adult
life. In James' case, the bank is moving to foreclose on his
southwest Calgary bungalow, he was barred on several occasions
from having any contact with his son, who is still in foster
care and whom he only gets to see on weekends. To top it off,
James is forced to pay an enormous chunk of his salary, $750
per month, to his ex-wife -- the woman who shows her thanks by
repeatedly making false accusations against her diligent and
decent hard-working ex-husband.
"I'm at the end of my
rope," says James with his thick Scottish brogue. "In
June, when I go back to court to get my son back, I'll have been
before a judge 49 times. It's ridiculous. Think of the cost to
the taxpayer, never mind me. I have $26,000 in unpaid lawyers
fees, all spent in the past four years trying to clear my name
and get custody of my son," he says, in utter exasperation.
"The social workers and
the courts all say they are doing what's best for my son. But
my son is in foster care, he cries every weekend when he has
to leave me, I'm on the verge of losing my house. Now I ask you,
how is that good for my son?" It's a valid question. A heartbreaking
one too.
There is an old saying: 'Sticks
and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.'
Of all of our language's colloquial sayings, it is perhaps the
biggest lie of them all.
Words said by liars sent David
Milgaard to jail for 22 years and tortured his family for some
30.
Words have virtually destroyed
James' life, not to mention his son's.
They have traumatized Guy Paul
Morin, who was also wrongly convicted of murder thanks to a witness
who changed her testimony at the prompting of Ontario police
officers.
Why, pray tell, aren't these
perjurers -- these witnesses, the police and all the others who
know that these witnesses were lying -- in jail where they deserve
to be?
Unless this country's judicial
system starts treating perjurers the way it should -- and that
is as criminals -- there will be many more Milgaards and Morins
and James out there.
Perjury is, in theory and in
law, a criminal offence. The only problem is, that it is virtually
never treated as such. In fact, Canada's criminal code allows
a sentence of up to 14 years for perjury and "if a person
commits perjury to procure the conviction of another person for
an offence punishable by death, the person who commits perjury
is liable to a maximum term of imprisonment for life."
Since Canada no longer has
capital punishment, clearly this law refers to murder convictions
for which the person is sentenced to life in prison, like Morin
and Milgaard.
While James is still very much
alive, his reputation has been murdered. His ability to be with
his son has been slain.
Sadly, James' story is not
unique. Many stories similar to his were heard from some 500
witnesses during the two years the joint Commons-Senate committee
spent looking into issues of access and custody.
One of the committee's recommendations
was to severely punish perjurers. Justice Minister Anne McLellan,
however, has decided to delay reforming Canada's adversarial
Divorce Act until 2002.
In that time, many more fathers
(mostly), will have their reputations tarnished and their rights
to see their children torn from them.
Canadians should all pray that
these men don't all start winning compensation claims from our
justice departments in the years to come.
That would surely bankrupt
us.
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Revitalizing the
archives
From 1998 until
2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of identity crisis.
What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy
at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building
and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had
full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard
Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did
not always have access to the internet. Rick's pages: one | two
We posted our
earliest and later actions.
Early versions
of the site can be found on the Wayback Machine.
I began following
other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct
and the site's character took on another facet: a newsclipping
scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in
print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully
convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over
700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these stories
going.
It was the
story of the Ross children's treatment at the hands of the Saskatchewan
government which grabbed the attention of The Fifth Estate. The civil claim (The
$10M Lawsuit as we called it) was only mentioned briefly at the
end of their show which aired in November, 2000.
When Richard
Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to
court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking
the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet.
- MacNeil
clinic (the
document which started it all)
- The
Thompson Papers
- Carol
Bunko-Ruys reports
This claim
was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown
out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall
to sever all ties with the website.
The court fights:
- Les
Perreaux report
- QB271
These pages have links which
lead to other pages from that era. Now that some of the dust has settled,
I have been going back through the material we had posted in
the early days. In the spirit of keeping the scrapbook alive,
I have been reformatting and placing links. The original material
remains intact. I hope the information, which chronicles our
struggle is useful to you.
The identity
crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March
28, 2005
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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
Truth suppress'd, whether
by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com
If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb
Publisher : Sheila
Steele
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
- injusticebusters
court advice :
- How
to walk yourself through the justice system
-
- Why
you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)
-
- Sermonette:
The
Naked Truth -- (You
will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this
page
Another target
of Dueck's malice: : Wilf Hathway
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the
civil trial.
Index
to the stories on this website
This is not
regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story
and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at
the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated
Index to Saskatoon Police stories
This is a pretty good scrapbook
for the 1998-2002 period.
Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David
Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown
misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 |
- Stephen Williams:
Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police
- Terry
Arnold: : Snitch a
suicide?
- RCMP
scenario stings: Brian
Hutchinson starts digging
- Vopnis
- Abdulai
Mohamed
- Nfld Defamation story:
- Wanda
Young
- Racism
in the Federal Civil Service
The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and
Sebastian Burns convictions
Trial
set for June 15
We
know part of this disclosure is a forged statement and perjured
affidavit from a Winnipeg cop
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-
-
-
The
Crown is still fighting Fred Poirier -- and they are losing.
Secret Commissions Case from Northern B.C.
-
-
- 2005: In
the United States the proven wrongful convictions just keep coming
at us!
-
- Brandon Morin:
- Convicted in Oregon
- of rapes which did not happen
- This website has good information
about Measure 11 -- Oregon's Mandatory Sentencing requirements
which have been in place since 1994. In this case we see how
the combination of a flawed grand jury system and prosecutors
who seek not justice but convictions is a recipe for wrongful
convictions.
-
Canadians who
have been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations
combined with zealous Crown
A round-up of wrongful convictions in Canada
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