Segment 1: Guest host Brian Lehrer talks to M.I.T. Linguist ..

2008

Thursday 07 August 2008 The U.S. state of Texas has executed a Mexican national by lethal injection despite objections by the government of Mexico and the World Court. José Medellin was executed in a prison in Huntsville,TX. He had been sentenced to die for the 1993 rape and murder of two girls aged 14 and 16 in Houston. Last month, the World Court ordered the U.S. government to take all measures necessary to stop the execution of Medellin on the grounds that he had been deprived of his right to consular services after his arrest.

Saturday Jul 12, 2008 Chinese teen could face death penalty in killing of Canadian model
An 18-year-old suspect could face the death penalty after confessing to killing model Diana Gabrielle...

Tuesday Jul 8, 2008 $6.5-million payment 'bittersweet' for Truscott
Steven Truscott, who spent 10 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced...

TORONTO: WRONGFULLY ACCUSED MAN TO RECEIVE COMPENSATION
A Canadian who spent most of his life trying to prove his innocence of the death of a 12-year-old girl has been awarded $6.5 million in compensation. Steven Truscott was arrested in 1959, charged in the rape and murder of schoolmate Lynn Harper and sentenced to death, becoming at the age of 14 the youngest person ever sentenced to death in Canada . Throughout, he has proclaimed his innocence and served 10 years in prison before being released on parole in 1969. Last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal found that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the case and acquitted him.

Wednesday 25 June 2008 US court bans death for child rape
The US supreme court strikes down a law allowing the death penalty for someone convicted of raping a child.

Sunday Jun 22, 2008 Man who fled to Canada avoids death penalty
In controversial move, Canadian border officials handed fugitive back to U.S. for capital trial

Sunday 15 June 2008 OTTAWA: SMALL MAJORITY OPPOSE DEATH PENALTY
A public opinion survey shows that 52 per cent of those asked are against the death penalty, while 39 per cent favour it. The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll shows division on the question along political party lines. Conservative voters are about evenly divided, while Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois supporters were more decidedly opposed. Respondents from the Prairie provinces were more likely to favour capital punishment, while a majority in all other regions showed the opposite tendency. Parliament abolished the death penalty in 1976, substituting in its place a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole for 25 years in cases of first-degree murder.

Wednesday 07 May 2008 The Death Penalty Returns
As states put their machinery of death into overdrive in the next few months, it’s time for the nation to rethink its commitment to capital punishment.

December 16, 2007 Marc Garneau - video Liberal candidate for Westmount-Ville-Marie, speaks about the death penalty.

Friday Apr 11, 2008 Death-row poet
A convicted murderer who turned to writing poetry for solace while on death row was among four prisoners...

Monday Apr 7, 2008 Capital punishment is banned - for prisoners, too
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day did the right thing in ordering a full review of the prison riot in British Columbia that left two prisoners dead. Imprisoned people have no way of protecting themselves from harm, and are in an environment full of menace.

Monday 31 March 2008 CALGARY: GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY OVER POLICY ON DEATH ROW INMATES
Canada's government is being accused of hypocrisy in its approach toward handling two cases of Canadians facing execution in foreign countries. In one case, Ronald Smith is on Death Row in the United States for killing two people in 1983. He has been fighting his death sentence for over 20 years. In the other case, Mohammed Kohail was sentenced this year to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia for killing a man in a schoolyard brawl in 2006. His supporters say that he never received a fair trial. In November, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced that the government would no longer seek clemency for Mr. Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the U.S., or for any murderer facing the death penalty in a democratic country. But last week, Mr. Day was in Saudi Arabia speaking on behalf of Mr. Kohail. The news of Mr. Day's plea on behalf of a Canadian facing the death penalty caught Mr. Smith's lawyer by surprise. Greg Jackson said that the visit flew in the face of everything that Mr. Day said in Smith's case. A spokesman for Public Safety declined to offer an explanation on why Mr. Day was intervening on behalf of Mr. Kohail and not Mr. Smith. Canada has no death penalty.

Sunday Apr 6, 2008 Sentenced in Homicide. Saudi court orders 200 lashes, year in prison By Saudi standards, a West Island teenager got off easy yesterday when he was sentenced to 200 lashes...

Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 Day goes to bat for condemned Montrealer
Two new studies highlight major injustices in Saudi Arabia's judicial system as Public Safety Minister...

Tuesday 25 March 2008 Justices Rule Against Bush on Death Penalty Case
The president had no power to order reopened a case of a Mexican condemned for murder, the Supreme Court said.
WASHINGTON — In a death-penalty case that has become an international issue, the Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that President Bush had no power to tell the State of Texas to reopen the case of a Mexican who has been condemned for murder and rape.

Wednesday 19 March 2008 MONTREAL: SUPPORTERS OF CANADIAN FACED WITH BEHEADING TO RALLY
Supporters of 23-year-old Canadian Mohamed Kohail expect several hundred people to turn out on Parliament Hill on Sunday to put pressure on the federal government to intervene on his behalf with the Saudi government. Mr. Kohail has been found guilty of murder and risks being publicly decapitated. He was convicted as a result of a schoolyard brawl that broke out over an insult. The Canadian government said earlier this month that it would seek clemency for him. But the organizer of Sunday's demonstration says the family hasn't heard anything since then and that time is running out for Mr. Kohail.

Tuesday Mar 18, 2008 U.S. court rejects death-row appeal
A U.S. court rejected yesterday an appeal by a death-row inmate who defence lawyers say is innocent ...

Saturday 15 March 2008 OTTAWA: GOVT. MPs SUPPORT DEATH PENALTY MOTION
Most Conservative MPs voted in favour of a Liberal Party motion that is in variance with the government's policy on the death penalty. The motion condemning capital punishment was introduced in reference to the government's refusal to request clemency for a Canadian convicted of murder and who sits on death row in the U.S. state of Montana. The government said it wouldn't intervene on behalf of Canadian convicted of capital offenses in democratic countries at fair trials. Previously, the policy was to request clemency for all such offenders. The vote was 255-17. Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not attend the vote.

Thursday Mar 6, 2008 Ottawa to seek clemency for Montrealer facing death sentence
The federal government is seeking clemency for a young Canadian man sentenced to death this week in ...

Saturday 23 February 2008 Court to review dying man's case
An Ontario man who's spent more than 30 years insisting he was wrongly convicted of murder received good news yesterday – though he may only have weeks to live.

Tuesday Feb 19, 2008 Opposition allied with accused murderer
Wife, kids slain. Take stand against Tories' hard line on capital punishment ...
when an Ohio prosecutor announced a five-count death-penalty indictment, Michel Veillette, the 34-year-old former Laval resident, was instantly allied in his bid to avoid execution with Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, the NDP's Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois chief Gilles Duceppe.
The three leaders' avowed opposition to capital punishment - in all circumstances and in all places where Canadians face execution - now stands in dramatic contrast to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new "case-by-case" approach to deciding whether Canada will intervene to seek clemency for Canadians facing the death penalty outside of this country.

Monday 11 February 2008 "My opinion is, if the death of 3,000 people isn’t sufficient for a death penalty in this country then why do we even have the death penalty?"
DEBORAH BURLINGAME, whose brother died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, on the government’s decision to seek capital punishment against six Guantánamo Bay detainees.

Wednesday Jan 30, 2008 Liberals push PM over death penalty
When the Conservative government reversed Canadian policy in late October and revealed it would no longer.

Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 Death-row inmates in limbo as judges deliberate
When Michael Wayne Richard sat down to a meal of fried chicken, apple pie and ice cream on the afternoon...

Monday Jan 28, 2008 Death-penalty debate resurrected
Two words have dogged Stephen Harper's political ambitions for years. Fairly or unfairly, suspicions..
Canadians have have remained divided on capital punishment since the federal government abolished it in 1976. Now, the issue of how to deal with Canadians facing execution abroad has brought the matter to the fore again

Fate of Canadians on death row in foreign lands remains murky
Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the United States, can no longer expect help from Prime...

Lawyer Reveals Secret, Toppling Death Sentence January 19, 2008

6 January 2008 nsnbc Wrongfully convicted saved 20 yr later with DNA

Tuesday 08 January 2008 Justices Chilly to Bid to Alter Death Penalty
WASHINGTON — With conservative justices questioning their motives and liberal justices questioning their evidence, opponents of the American manner of capital punishment made little headway Monday in their effort to persuade the Supreme Court that the Constitution requires states to change the way they carry out executions by lethal injection.
Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the lawyer for two inmates on Kentucky’s death row who are facing execution by the commonly used three-chemical protocol, conceded that theoretically his clients would have no case if the first drug, a barbiturate used for anesthesia, could be guaranteed to work perfectly by inducing deep unconsciousness.

Tuesday 08 January 2008 After 20 years on death row, U.K. man heads home
Kenneth Richey came within an hour of being executed in Ohio's electric chair in 1994

Monday Jan 7, 2008 Chinese prefer needle over bullet
China will expand the use of lethal injections in capital punishment cases, arguing that even death-...

Friday 04 January 2008 States Hesitate to Lead Change on Executions
Why have states clung to an execution method with the potential to inflict pain when a simpler one is available?

Wed 02 January 2008 NYT Podcast Wed biz

2007

December 13, 2007
Singer and human rights campaigner Nazanin Afshin-Jam was born in Tehran during the turmoil of the 1979 revolution. Her family fled to Canada where she was raised and The co-founder of Facebook helped to design Barack Obama's website and is getting much of the credit for Obama's sudden resurgence in the polls, particularly among younger voters. more | Nazanin Afshin-Jam site

Wednesday 19 December 2007 >b>UNITED NATIONS
The UN General Assembly is calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. The 192-member world body is hoping to eventually abolish executions altogether. But for now, it has approved a resolution for a moratorium by a vote of 104-54 with 29 abstentions. The United States, China and Iran all oppose the resolution, which is not legally binding. But it does carry moral weight and reflects the majority view of world opinion.

Tuesday was the UN's International Migrants' Day. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon marked it by calling on nations to sign the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Only 37 countries have ratified the convention so far. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour of Canada, says that migrants are among the world's groups most exposed to human rights violations in the 21st century. Human rights advocates denounced abuses committed against Asian migrant workers in some emerging nations in Asia and the wealthy oil kingdoms, citing working conditions, unpaid salaries and mistreatment. The UN proclaimed International Migrants Day in 2000 to draw attention to their contribution to the economies and well-being of both their host nations and homelands.

Friday Dec 14, 2007 Catholic Bishops press Harper
The organization representing Canada's top Catholic clerics has issued a stern rebuke to Prime Minister...
.. The policy has been denounced by all three federal opposition parties, Amnesty International and UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour.

New Jersey scraps death penalty
New Jersey became the first U.S. state yesterday to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the...

Friday Dec 7, 2007

New Jersey vote likely to scrap death penalty

New Jersey is preparing to scrap the death penalty next week, becoming the first state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since...
Thirty-seven states and the federal government have the death penalty, but its use has fallen in recent years. The number of death sentences handed down dropped by 60% in 1999-2006, while the number of executions was off by 40% over the same period, says the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a Washington research group.
Last year, 53 people were executed in the United States, the lowest number for 10 years, and the total is expected to fall to 42 this year, said Richard Dieter of the DPIC.

Saturday 01 December 2007 OTTAWA: REVELATIONS MADE IN CASE OF DEATH-ROW CANADIAN
The Canadian Press reports that the Canadian sitting on death row in a prison in the U.S. state of Montana may not have killed two men in 1982. According to the new agency, records of the National Parole Board show that a friend, Rodney Munro, played a key role in the murders. The documents show that while Ronald Allen Smith pleaded guilty to the murders, Munro accepted a 60-year plea bargain, was sent back to Canada in 1989 and was freed on parole 10 years later. Because Smith pleaded guilty and Munro took a plea bargain, the details of the murders were never elicited in court. According to the documents, Munro stabbed one victim and Smith shot both. Two weeks ago, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the government had changed its policy of seeking clemency for Canadians sentenced to death abroad and henceforth would not intervene on behalf of multiple or mass murderers condemned in democratic countries at a fair trial.

Wednesday 28 November 2007
SUBSCRIPTIONS, BACK ISSUES, BOX SETS AND MORE AVAILABLE AT THE MAISONNEUVE BOUTIQUE

TAKE ME TO THE BOUTIQUE!
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LITIGATING FOR LIFE
The Citizen (not available online) fronts, while the Globe and the Star go inside with the latest in Ronald Allen Smith’s hunt for clemency. Smith, a Canadian on death row in Montana, filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government yesterday, on the grounds that the Tories’ recent policy reversal on seeking clemency for Canadians on death row in democratic countries violates his constitutional rights. Since Canada did away with the death penalty in 1976, the Canadian government has traditionally sought commutation for Canadians awaiting execution in other countries. Last month, the Conservative government announced that it would not pursue the case of Smith, who killed two men in 1982, or any other inmates convicted in democratic countries. According to the Citizen, a team of four high-profile Canadian lawyers have brought the suit on Smith’s behalf, arguing that the new policy constitutes “tacit approval” of his execution, and therefore violates his charter right not to be killed for his crimes. The lawyers hope the court will deem the policy to be unlawful and compel the government to restart efforts to have Smith’s sentence commuted.

Jordan Himelfarb is a Quebec City-based MediaScout writer for Maisonneuve Magazine.

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Wednesday 28 November 2007 1:02 OTTAWA: DEATH ROW CANADIAN SUES
Lawyers representing a Canadian who is sitting on death row in the U.S. state of Montana have brought a lawsuit against the Canadian government because of its changed policy on the death penalty. Lawyers representing double-murderer Ronald Allen Smith have filed a case in Federal Court of Canada that demands a judicial review of that policy. The government said several weeks ago that it wouldn't intervene in the cases of multiple murderers in democratic countries which have fair trials. Smith's lawyers argue that such a policy is tantamount to approval of his execution. Smith was convicted in 1983 of having murdered two American Indians. All three of the main federal opposition leaders have written letters to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer asking him to commute Smith's death sentence to life imprisonment.

Thu 22/11/2007 OTTAWA: EUROPEAN BODY CRITICIZES CANADA OVER DEATH PENALTY
The 47-member Council of Europe has criticized Canada's new policy of not defending Canadians who receive the death penalty in foreign countries. The Council's secretary general, Terry Davies, accused the Canadian government of "subcontracting" the executions. The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced it would not intervene on behalf of convicted murderer Ronald Smith, who has been on death row in Montana for two decades, nor would Canada continue to co-sponsor UN resolutions calling for a ban on the death penalty. The government says it won't intervene in cases in which Canadians were convicted of murder in democratic countries that allow fair trials. The announcements marked a reversal in policy on the issue and caused suggestions that Mr. Harper's government intends to reintroduce capital punishment, which he denies. The foreign affairs critic of the opposition Liberal Party, Bob Rae, agrees with the Council of Europe's criticism, calling the change of policy "disgraceful."

Tuesday 13 November 2007 UNDATED: CANADIANS WANT DEATH-ROW INMATES HELPED
A new public opinion poll shows that Canadians oppose a recent decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government not to help Canadians convicted of murder and sentenced to death in foreign countries. The Harris-Decima survey also suggests sharp divisions on the subject along party lines. Fifty-eight per cent of Conservatives polled supported the government's move, while strong majorities in all other parties opposed it. The poll also suggests that younger, female and urban voters are more likely to oppose the decision. These are the same voters the Conservatives have been hoping to attract in greater numbers in their next election campaign.

Thursday 08 November 2007 Life or death by e-mail
...In a posting on its website on Tuesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said it will accept emergency e-mail pleadings.
Michael Richard, 49, was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 25, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court said it would decide whether that method violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Sunday 04 November 2007 OTTAWA: GOVT. WON'T BRING BACK DEATH PENALTY
On another matter, Mr. Harper has denied that the government intends to reintroduce the death penalty. The opposition Liberals on Thursday accused the government of having a secret agenda aimed at the return of capital punishment. The accusation was sparked by the declaration by Public Safety Minister Stockwell day that the government would not intervene to save the life of a Canadian convicted murderer who has been on death row in the U.S. for 20 years and henceforth won't intervene on behalf of convicted murderers provided they've received a fair trial in a democratic country. Mr. Harper says he has no intention of restarting the debate about capital punishment. But the Liberals responded by calling Thursday's policy change a "sneak preview" of what would happen if the minority Conservatives even won a majority, adding that in addition to Mr. Day himself Foreign Minister Peter MacKay and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson have called publicly for the return of capital punishment.

Friday Nov 2, 2007 Tories stop seeking clemency for Canadians on death row in U.S.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was under fire inside and outside of the House of Commons yesterday...
The new stance is a potentially fatal blow for Ronald Smith, a 50-year-old Alberta man facing the death penalty in Montana and the only Canadian slated to be executed in the United States. [Why??]

OTTAWA: GOVT. WON'T INTERVENE FOR DEATH-ROW CANADIAN
Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says the government won't intervene with the U.S. authorities to try to save the life of a Canadian who has been sitting on death row for the past 20 years. Mr. Day says the government's policy on such situations has changed and that henceforth it won't intervene to prevent executions of Canadians if they are convicted of crimes in a democratic country and received fair trials. The minister told the House of Commons that there will be no interventions aimed at repatriating murderers who were tried in countries that support the rule of law because "it would send the wrong message." Fifty-year-old Ronald Allen Smith confess to having marched two Blackfeet Indians into the Montana backwoods in 1982 and shooting them in the head while on a drug and alcohol binge. There were reports last week that Ottawa was urging Gov. Brian Schweitzer to grant Smith clemency.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

p>REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
by Claire Ward
October 16, 2007

Miscarriage of justice. This disturbingly familiar legal phrase confronts the media again today with the acquittal of thirty-seven-year-old William Mullins-Johnson. On Monday, Mullins-Johnson joined the wrongfully convicted ranks of Stephen Truscott, Thomas Sophonow and David Milgaard, when the Ontario Court of Appeal lifted a fourteen-year-old conviction that had found Mullins-Johnson guilty of the rape and murder his niece, Valin Johnson. This ruling came after Crown prosecutor Ken Campbell told the court that six “world-renowned experts” found there was “no evidence of homicide and no evidence of sexual injury” to indicate Valin Johnson had been sodomized and strangled in 1993. Pathologist Charles Smith’s autopsy report—which was instrumental in Mullins-Johnson’s conviction—was discovered to be faulty after a report by Ontario’s chief coroner required it to be reviewed. The April report stated that Smith likely made errors in twenty cases in which people were charged with killing children. Thirteen of those cases resulted in convictions, and Mullins-Johnson’s conviction was one of them. Mullins-Johnson has been behind bars for twelve years.

“It is regrettable that as a result of the flawed pathological evidence you were wrongfully convicted and you spent so long in custody,” Ontario Court of Appeal Associate Chief Justice Dennis O’Connor told Mullins-Johnson. Prosecutor Michal Fairburn expounded on O’Connor’s carefully worded statement and went so far as to outright apologize for the miscarriage of justice. Yet the acquittal and apologies won’t be enough for Mullins-Johnson, whose family has been torn apart by the conviction. In order to remove his “scarlet letter,” Mullins-Johnson insists he be given a declaration of utter innocence so that he may return to his Northern Ontario reserve where many still believe him to be a child killer. Mullins-Johnson’s lawyers, James Lockyer, David Bayliss and Michael Lomer, are also asking the court to formally express a belief in their client’s “factual innocence.” Yet beneath the aftermath of the acquittal, the disturbing reality of the faulty autopsy reports lingers. Has Smith’s poor judgment, or imprudent vigilantism, cost other individuals irreplaceable years in jail and unjustly labelled them as child killers and rapists? The possibility will surely be closely investigated as the Big Seven narrow in on Canada’s sometimes faulty legal system.

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THE LEADS:
THE NATIONAL: “Sudden Acquittal: William Mullins-Johnson spent twelve years in jail … now an Ontario court says the pathologist who helped convict him got it all wrong”
CTV NEWS: “Miscarriage of Justice: Twelve years in jail for a crime he did not commit”
TORONTO STAR: “Acquittal—and apology”

Saturday 15 September 2007 China's Supreme Court has ordered the country's judges to use the death penalty less often. China regularly executes people for economic, non-violent and political crimes. The new order says crimes of passion, such as the murder of a family member, should not automatically result in the death penalty if compensation is paid to the victim's family. The court also says that those convicted of economic crimes should receive lighter penalties if they help authorities recover the stolen money. China does not officially release death sentence figures but it's believed to carry out more court-ordered executions than the rest of the world combined.

Thursday 30 August 2007 Lynne Harper's family speaks out on Truscott acquittal
EXCLUSIVE: Five decades after his 12-year-old daughter was raped and murdered, and a day after Steven Truscott was acquitted, Leslie Harper breaks his silence
...The court stopped short of declaring Mr. Truscott innocent, but nevertheless gave him reason to declare victory in his long-fought legal battle.

TORONTO: DELIBERATIONS ON COMPENSATION FOR TRUSCOTT TO BEGIN
A former Ontario Appeal Court justice will begin deliberations on whether a man who on Tuesday was acquitted of a murder committed 48 years ago deserves compensation. Steven Truscott was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in 1959, Mr. Truscott being 14 at the time. The sentence was commuted to life and he was released on parole in 1969. Ontario's highest court on Tuesday acquitted him but said in its finding that it could not at the same time declare him innocent on the basis of the evidence. Former Appeal Court Justice Sydney Robins has been charged by the provincial government with deciding whether Mr. Truscott ought to be compensated. He says the question turns on the fact of the absence of a direct finding of innocence.

Thursday 30 August 2007 America turns against the death penalty
With the exception of Texas
JOSEPH NICHOLS did not fight the guards at his execution, but he did not co-operate, either. He had to be lifted onto the trolley on which he was to die, and then strapped down. A needle was thrust into his arm. Asked if he had any last words, he said, “Yes, yes I do,” and then swore at a guard. There followed a gurgling sound as his lungs collapsed and, for about a minute, an animal-like noise issued from the back of his throat. After that came silence, broken only by a few people in the room clearing their throats. Then a doctor pulled out his stethoscope and pronounced the condemned man dead. The execution had taken six minutes.

Wednesday 29 August 2007

STALE JUSTICE FOR STEVEN TRUSCOTT
by Claire Ward
August 29, 2007

For the first time in forty-eight years, Steven Truscott is a truly free man. “Miscarriage of justice” is the phrase scattered across the dailies today, referring to the circumstances of Truscott’s acquittal. Convicted of the rape and murder of then twelve-year-old classmate Lynne Harper, Truscott became Canada’s youngest death row inmate in 1959, at age fourteen. For a man whose infamous trial has lurked in the media for nearly half a century, Truscott is remarkably composed. “I think probably the first thing is, I’ll take a little holiday from the legal system,” Truscott tells a room full of chuckling reporters. “On behalf of the government, I am truly sorry,” Attorney General Michael Bryant told the cameras. “It is a decision that will not be appealed by the Crown—it is over.” But Truscott heard hollow words, and reacted to Bryant’s statement with: “For the past four-and-a-half years, they (Crown counsel) had the same evidence as what the judges have had and they chose to fight us every step of the way.”

The Star and the Globe give the five-decade-long legal process the most comprehensive and detailed coverage, while the Post offers a simple timeline to those who haven’t stayed current. However, the big question underlining the various angles today is that of compensation: How will Truscott be compensated for the loss of his childhood, and, furthermore, how will the Harper family receive their justice? While Truscott thinks it’s too soon to consider compensation, lawyer James Lockyer feels that “Steven should get every penny he can out of the government, after what he’s been through.” Lockyer, who is also a director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, stressed that Truscott received the highest rank of acquittal one can obtain. As Truscott’s case finally closes, however, the question remains: who killed Lynne Harper? At last count, the Harper family still firmly believed Truscott was guilty. 

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THE LEADS:
THE NATIONAL: “Forty-Eight-Year Nightmare: His ordeal started when he was fourteen years old; now, finally, the day he was waiting for”
CTV NEWS: “Victory and Vindication: Steven Truscott clears his name”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “Acquitted by courts but girding for battle over compensation”
TORONTO STAR: “They finally got it right”
NATIONAL POST: “Truscott acquitted”

TheBattle looms over Truscott compensation Nearly 50 years after being convicted of murder in the death of Lynne Harper, Steven Truscott wins back his good name
TheHow do we prevent wrongful convictions? Lawyer Philip Campbell takes questions on the Canadian justice system. videos

Monday 06 August 2007 The Executioner’s Hood
A recent spate of botched executions has led some courts and states in the encouraging direction of halting the procedures and reviewing lethal-injection protocols.

Wednesday 25 July 2007 BULGARIA
Six foreign medics who spent eight years in jail after being sentenced to death in Libya for supposedly having infected hundreds of children with HIV have arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Libyan authorities commuted their death sentences to life in prison last week after which the Libyan government and the EU negotiated their release. Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam says the EU has agreed to care for more than 400 infected children in European hospitals for the rest of their lives and to rehabilitate two hospitals and a medical centre in Benghazi, where the HIV outbreak occurred. The victims' families claimed that the 19 Bulgarian health workers arrested in 1999 were trying to undermine Islam in Libya. The case caused withspread outrage elsewhere in the world, the eight sentenced to death commonly assumed to have been framed.

Sunday 17 June 2007 rci SWEDEN Sweden's prime minister made human rights the focus of his meeting on Sunday with visiting Chinese president Hu Jintao. Fredrik Reinfeldt said that it's important to have a dialogue to discuss human rights. He also expressed Sweden's opposition to China's death penalty. Mr. Reinfeldt said that Mr. Hu was aware that human rights is an important issue in Europe. The Chinese leader also said that his country is at a stage in development when it can be influenced by dialogue. The two leaders also discussed trade and global warming. Mr. Hu signed several bilateral contracts including a billion-dollar deal with the telecommunications company, Ericsson. Mr. Hu is the first Chinese president to visit a Scandinavian country.

Sunday 10 June 2007 nyt Ruling Likely to Spur Convictions in Capital Cases Experts said a Supreme Court decision will make juries in death penalty cases whiter and more conviction-prone. more

China's enthusiasm for executions May 30th 2007

Tuesday 29 May 2007 CHINA'S TOP DRUG REGULATOR GIVEN DEATH PENALTY China's top drug regulator has been sentenced to death on charges of corruption and official negligence, state media said Tuesday.

Thursday 03 May 2007 Man convicted on controversial doctor's evidence, granted bail
After spending nine years in prison following a second-degree murder conviction in the death of his infant son, Marco Trotta was granted bail on Wednesday.

Monday 30 April 2007 ec China executes more people than all other countries combined: unofficially, as many as 8,000, according to Amnesty International, a human-rights group. While the annual estimated number of executions fluctuates (1,591 in 2006—some 40% higher than in 2003), Amnesty notes that there is a global shift away from the death penalty. The total number of countries carrying out executions has fallen from 40 to 25 in a decade, and 129 countries are abolitionist in practice. America is one of only five democracies still to use the death penalty.

Tuesday 24 April 2007 Ont. calls inquiry into pathologist's work
Ontario will hold a full public inquiry into how and why faulty evidence provided by pathologist Dr. Charles Smith in cases involving child deaths came to be used in the possible wrongful convictions of 13 or more innocent people.

Friday 16 February 2007 Driskell commissioner blasts police, prosecutors
Police and prosecutors involved in the 1991 James Driskell wrongful conviction withheld evidence from the defence, misled the jury and allowed a star witness to commit perjury, a judicial inquiry into the case has concluded. [pay Driskell 10x what they offer! NOW! & charge the gilty!]

Saturday 10 February 2007 Crown gets grilling in Truscott case
Long-hidden witness statements pointing to Steven Truscott's innocence do not undermine the 1959 guilty verdict in his case, Crown lawyers argued Thursday amid intense grilling from Ontario's highest court.

Friday 09 February 2007 Truscott needs court to free him from accusations: lawyer
Calling the Ontario Court of Appeal Steven Truscott's "only venue for justice now and forever," lawyers for the convicted murderer Wednesday asked the court to declare their client innocent.

Wednesday 07 February 2007 Long-hidden autopsy papers clear Truscott, appeal hears
The Ontario Court of Appeal should accept two long-hidden autopsy drafts and the evidence of modern medical experts as proof Steven Truscott did not kill Lynne Harper, Truscott's lawyers say.

Tuesday 06 February 2007 Crown accused of holding back evidence favourable to Truscott
A handwriting expert was called in to the Steven Truscott appeal Monday to determine the author of two 47-year-old notes that suggest authorities withheld witness statements favourable to Truscott's innocence in the murder of Lynne Harper.

Friday 02 February 2007 Truscott's lawyers attack decades-old murder theory
The Crown at Steven Truscott's 1959 trial nudged witnesses to alter recollections of the night Lynne Harper vanished so their testimony would better fit the prosecution's theory, lawyers for Truscott argued Thursday.

Thursday 01 February 2007 A FORTY-EIGHT-YEAR QUEST FOR REDEMPTION
The National, CTV News, the Globe, the Star, La Presse, the Post and  the Citizen go inside with first-day arguments at the televised appeal of Steven Truscott, the Guelph, Ontario, man who has spent nearly five decades trying to clear his name of murder. Convicted of rape and first degree murder of classmate Lynne Harper in 1959, when he was only fourteen years old, Truscott was initially sentenced to death before that sentence was commuted to ten years in prison. As Lisa Laflamme explained on CTV News, the five justices in Ontario’s highest court will now decide on one of three options: ordering a new trial, letting the conviction stand, or acquitting Truscott outright. Addressing the court yesterday, Truscott’s lawyer James Lockyer stated that the initial conviction was “based on fallacies.” Key to the defence’s argument, as reported in the Star, is modern forensic science, and knowledge pertaining to the stomach contents and insect activity on Harper’s decomposing body. Although concerns were raised over whether the court proceeding would take on a circus-like atmosphere due to the presence of television cameras, events have so far proven subdued. That’s not surprising, says Patrick Monahan, Dean of Law at York University. On The National last night, he said theatrics are minimal as appeals are not made before juries and involve few witnesses. Cameras in the courtroom are also prohibited from filming anyone besides the judges or lawyers. Ontario is in the process of approving a pilot project that would see cameras appear in all Courts of Appeal in the near future. Live coverage of Steven Truscott’s judicial review can be viewed for the next three weeks on the CBC website.

Friday 05 January 2007 2006

Sunday 17 December 2006 Two U.S. states have declared a moratorium on killing prisoners by lethal injection. California and Florida decided to take the move after flawed lethal injections occurred in both States. A federal judge in California ruled that the method of execution violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, suspended all executions after a medical examiner said that prison officials botched the insertion of needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. So far this year, 53 people have been executed in the United States.

Sat 04/11/2006 TUCSON: NO US DEATH PENALTY DECISION YET ON CANADIAN
Prosecutors in the United States say they haven't decided yet whether to seek the death penalty against a Canadian citizen accused of killing his wife in Arizona. Henry Fischbacher was arrested last month in Parry Sound, Ont. after he fled Tucson and crossed the Canadian border. US authorities say he now awaits extradition. Canadian laws forbid Canada from returning its citizens to face the death penalty in the United States. Neither Canadian nor American officials could say how long extradition would take. Authorities found the beaten body of 47-year-old Lisa Fischbacher in the backyard pool of their Tucson home on October 6.

Wednesday 01 November 2006 China Acts to Reduce High Rate of Executions China has faced mounting criticism for what critics say is the widespread and arbitrary use of the death penalty.

Thu 15/06/2006 After 22 years, Thatcher walks free
Colin Thatcher used to walk up the steps to the stately Saskatchewan legislature building towards the office he occupied as a provincial cabinet minister. more

Saturday Jun 24, 2006 nyt Doctors See Way to Cut Suffering in Executions Medical experts say the current method of lethal injection could easily be changed, but no state has moved to do so.[best to stop executions]

Saturday Jun 24, 2006 maisonneuve.org THREE Ms, TWO Ds AND A P
The National and the Globe go inside, while the Post briefs the release of a report into three wrongful murder convictions in Newfoundland and Labrador. The report was prepared by former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Antonio Lamer, who was asked in 2003 to examine the cases of Greg Parsons, Randy Druken and Ronald Dalton. Lamer suggested police and the public prosecutions office suffered from “tunnel vision,” targeting one suspect while ignoring evidence that did not support their case. Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister Tom Marshall said the government was committed to implementing all forty-five recommendations made in the report. The report comes as another high-profile murder case is under review. Stephen Truscott’s 1959 murder conviction has been the most publicized case of a suspected miscarriage of justice since then-justice minister Anne McLellan announced criminal code reforms aimed at ending wrongful convictions in 2000. Those changes were in response to what The National’s Peter Mansbridge last night called “The Three Ms of Canadian Justice”—the cases of David Milgaard, Donald Marshall and Guy Paul Morin. The publicity given to such cases is well warranted, but MediaScout wonders when someone will turn a critical eye to the role of the media. While the Big Seven and their brethren have often emerged as defenders of the wrongfully accused, one need only look at the sensational coverage given to the hatchet attack on Herbert Stuemer in Ottawa or the arrest of the infamous “Toronto 17” to see how journalists can stray dangerously close to convicting suspects in the court of public opinion, long before they see their day in a court of law. The media surely can’t be blamed for the faults of the justice system, but they shouldn’t be allowed to forget that such faults exist either.

Friday Jun 16, 2006 nyt Prisoners Gain in Suit Attacking Lethal InjectionTuesday Jun 13, 2006 rci SASKATOON: MILGAARD INQUIRY CONTINUES
A Justice Department lawyer says media pressure did nothing to speed up an investigation into David Milgaard's application to have his conviction reviewed. Eugene Williams told the inquiry looking into Milgaard's wrongful murder conviction his office did a great deal. He says he had the RCMP look into new information and asked Saskatoon police and prosecutor Bob Caldwell to review their files. Mr. Milgaard spent 23 years in prison for the 1969 rape and murder of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller. DNA evidence eventually exonerated him and was used to convict serial rapist Larry Fisher of the crime. Mr. Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard, has said she grew impatient and became frustrated by what she felt was a lack of information coming from Mr. Williams' department after filing the application in December 1988.

Sunday Jun 4, 2006 Judging Whether a Killer Is Sane Enough to Die The next question in death penalty law may be defining which inmates are too mentally ill to be executed.

Monday May 8, 2006 Faulty Testimony Sent 2 to Death Row, Panel Finds The faulty evidence masquerading as science led to the execution of one of the men, a panel of private fire investigators concluded.

Wednesday Apr 12, 2006 nyt Judges Set Hurdles for Lethal Injection Judges in several states cite new evidence suggesting that prisoners have endured agonizing executions.

Sunday Mar 26, 2006 nyt Kabul Judge Rejects Calls to End Trial of Christian Convert By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and DAVID ROHDE
The case of Abdul Rahman, who could face death for converting to Christianity from Islam, has drawn concern from the U.S.

Monday May 22, 2006 Thatcher returning to Regina
Convicted killer Colin Thatcher's time in a Manitoba prison is nearly over after he was granted day parole by the National Parole Board during a hearing Friday.

STONY MOUNTAIN, Man. -- Convicted killer Colin Thatcher's time in a Manitoba prison is nearly over after he was granted day parole by the National Parole Board during a hearing Friday.

Saturday Mar 18, 2006 cc Thatcher gets 72-hour unescorted leave
The National Parole Board has decided there's no risk in allowing convicted murderer Colin Thatcher to have unescorted visits with his family.

Monday Mar 13, 2006 M is for Moussaoui, whose sentencing has been interrupted, making his trial ever more bizarre ("Judge Considers Dismissal of Death-Penalty Case Against Moussaoui"

Thursday Feb 23, 2006 nyt Questions Over Method Lead to Delay of Execution By JOHN M. BRODER
An execution was delayed indefinitely in California after a federal judge ordered the state to use an untested lethal injection method

Execution called off because of lethal-injection questions The state of California postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer Tuesday amid a court battle over the state's method of lethal injection and the role doctors may play in the death chamber

Thursday Feb 9, 2006 nyt When Death Is on the Docket, the Moral Compass Wavers
By BENEDICT CAREY
Researchers have determined the psychological techniques most often used to disengage and tested them in people staffing a prison execution team.

Monday Jan 16, 2006 nyt Governor Finds New Middle Ground in Death Penalty Debate
By JAMES DAO
As the governor of Virginia, Mark Warner has established policies on the use of DNA to confirm convictions, many of them in death penalty cases.

Sunday Jan 1, 2006 nyt A Light on Justice Denied
A harrowing postscript to official justice is taking place in Virginia, where the discovery of forgotten blood samples has led to modern DNA tests that have already cleared five inmates.

2005

Tuesday Dec 27, 2005 nyt Hometown Snubs Schwarzenegger Over Death Penalty
By RICHARD BERNSTEIN
An Austrian town once proud of its native son takes his name off the local stadium after an execution in California.

Friday Dec 2, 2005 nyt After 24 Years on Death Row, Clemency Is Killer's Final Appeal
By ADAM LIPTAK
Stanley Williams awaits the possibility that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will commute his sentence to life in prison.

Friday Dec 2, 2005 globe
Singapore executes Australian despite pleas for clemency Australian Prime Minister John Howard slams government's refusal to allow 25-year-old's mother to give him a final hug

Thursday Dec 1, 2005 maisonneuve.org POLITICAL DEATH SENTENCE?
The Globe teases, the Star stuffs, and the Post and the Citizen brief a story that may be the latest example of the continuing slide of the death penalty’s popularity in the US. Robin Lovitt was going to be killed by lethal injection tonight in Virginia, but outgoing governor Mark Warner granted him a last-minute reprieve, commuting his sentence. Both Alan Freeman (the Globe’s Washington bureau chief in Los Angeles) and Tim Harper (from the Star’s Washington bureau) spell out the political implications: If a Democratic governor—one who is seen as a potential presidential nominee for the Democrats in 2008—is willing to risk being labelled by Republicans as “soft on crime,” the charge that famously sunk Michael Dukakis’s presidential run in 1988, that Democrat may have evidence public opinion on the issue has shifted. DNA evidence led to a spate of exonerations of death-row inmates last year, which may partly explain the shift in opinion. Lovitt was convicted of stabbing and killing a pool-hall employee with a pair of scissors in 1998. DNA evidence that might have exonerated Lovitt was accidentally thrown out. Lovitt would have been the thousandth convict executed in the US since capital punishment was reintroduced in 1976 after a decade-long moratorium.

Sunday Oct 2, 2005 nyt
NO WAY OUT
To More Inmates, Life Term Means Dying Behind Bars
By ADAM LIPTAK
Driven by tougher laws, thousands of lifers are going into prisons each year, and in many states only a few are ever coming out.

Sep. 22, 2005 ts
After 12 years, a taste of freedom From cell to steakhouse in a few hours Lawyers say murder never happened

Wednesday Aug 3, 2005 ap
DNA Test Frees Man Nearly 2 Decades Later
PITTSBURGH - During his nearly two decades in prison on a rape conviction, Thomas A. Doswell was denied parole four times because he refused to accept responsibility for the crime. But DNA evidence has finally proved what he's been saying all along: He didn't do it.

Tuesday Jul 19, 2005 nyt Executed Man May Be Cleared in New Inquiry
By KATE ZERNIKE
Should the St. Louis circuit at