Steven Truscott still in limbo

[#juan]

Acquittal, but not innocence, likely for Truscott

Sentenced to death in 1959 for the murder of a 12-year-old, there is no avenue for the Canadian legal system to declare him innocent


TIM SHUFELT
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
August 28, 2007 at 1:31 AM EDT

Nearly half a century after being found guilty of killing his classmate, Steven Truscott will learn Tuesday if he can walk away from court no longer a convicted murderer for the first time since he was 14 years old.
In a judgment to be delivered Tuesday morning, the Ontario Court of Appeal is widely expected to overturn Mr. Truscott's conviction in the murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper in Clinton, Ont., that resulted in his death sentence in 1959, later commuted to life in prison. But Mr. Truscott might not get the finding of innocence his legal team asked for before the court concluded its review of the case in February.
There is no official avenue in the Canadian legal system to declare Mr. Truscott, or anyone else before the courts, innocent. The closest verdict is an acquittal, meaning guilt could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but not necessarily that innocence was proven.
Further, in the absence of DNA or some other piece of rock-solid evidence, it cannot be said for sure that Mr. Truscott did not kill Lynne – only that there is no compelling evidence to suggest he did, said Julian Sher,

http://tinyurl.com/2epv33

 

[#juan]

I've been following this case for years and if anyone deserves a break it is Steven Truscott. Key evidence was ignored, Witnesses were coached to change their story, yet we can't seem to clear his name. The man has lived an exemplary life and he and his wife have raised fine children. There is supposed to be a decision of some kind today...........I hope it's the right one.

 

[#juan]

The ruling just came down. Steven Truscott has been acquitted. He has not been declared innocent like a lot of people wanted but he has been acquitted. I suppose the next question is compensation. Steven Truscott has said that compensation is not what has driven his fight for exoneration but after being acquitted of a murder that originally put him in jail for ten years and got him sentenced to hang at fourteen years of age, I would think some sort of compensation is in order.

 

[Dreadful Nonsense]

I can only imagine the tortue this person endured for being found guilty for the loss of one of his dearest friends at the time....

And people wonder why the death penalty is just wrong.

 

[lone wolf]

Ontario's way of getting out of compensation....

Wolf

 

[Impetus]

I've followed this case since I was a teenager myself.

In fact, as a result I adopted a policy of always dropping dates off at the door and waiting until they're in the house safely, both to ensure they're safe and to make sure that never happened to me.

He deserves to be declared innocent and compensated, but aquittal and compensation is better than nothing.

Guy Paul Morin was another similar case of a myopic investigation by incompetent borderlining on corrupt detectives.

The worst part of it all, is somewhere there are two killers who got away with murder...

Muz

The ruling just came down. Steven Truscott has been acquitted. He has not been declared innocent like a lot of people wanted but he has been acquitted. I suppose the next question is compensation. Steven Truscott has said that compensation is not what has driven his fight for exoneration but after being acquitted of a murder that originally put him in jail for ten years and got him sentenced to hang at fourteen years of age, I would think some sort of compensation is in order.

 

[#juan]

Guy Paul Morin was another similar case of a myopic investigation by incompetent borderlining on corrupt detectives.

The worst part of it all, is somewhere there are two killers who got away with murder...

Muz

I agree with you there. There is a chance that one of the killers is dead. Witnesses reportedly saw Lynn Harper get int a car very much like the car of a known pedophile who has long since died.

 

[Impetus]

Yeah, I remember that now...what in blazes were they thinking at the time?

Hmm...known pedophile or a young kid who was her friend...

As for Morin, there were many other possible suspects.
Her brother and two friends had been molesting her for a long time before she was killed.
Brother's alibi was provided by his...mom.

A suspicious old van that was sighted in the area, later found with the inside clean as a whistle.

Muz

I agree with you there. There is a chance that one of the killers is dead. Witnesses reportedly saw Lynn Harper get int a car very much like the car of a known pedophile who has long since died.

 

[DurkaDurka]

I hope the government funds a comfortable retirement for him after what he has been through.

 

[coldstream]

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt. This isn't the first time its been judicially reviewed, and the facts of the case all point to Steven Truscott as the perpetrator. If the conviction is overturned it will be because he simply exhausted the will of the judiciary to refight this. It also capitulates to uninformed public and press opinion which has cast Truscott as a victim of judicial malfeasance. The truth doesn't bare that out, but almost 40 years after the crime nobody is willing to represent Lynne Harper anymore. The parents of the victim, the original prosecutors are all dead.. and everyone has moved on. But Lynne still lies in her grave, her life ended at 11 years of age.. and the truth, regardless of the opinion of the mediocrities that now fill our political and judicial offices, is still out there.

 

[Impetus]

Do you mind enlightening us as to what you found convincing...beyond a reasonable doubt?
Muz

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[Niflmir]

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt. This isn't the first time its been judicially reviewed, and the facts of the case all point to Steven Truscott as the perpetrator. If the conviction is overturned it will be because he simply exhausted the will of the judiciary to refight this. It also capitulates to uninformed public and press opinion which has cast Truscott as a victim of judicial malfeasance. The truth doesn't bare that out, but almost 40 years after the crime nobody is willing to represent Lynne Harper anymore. The parents of the victim, the original prosecutors are all dead.. and everyone has moved on. But Lynne still lies in her grave, her life ended at 11 years of age.. and the truth, regardless of the opinion of the mediocrities that now fill our political and judicial offices, is still out there.

Did we read the same case? Steven Truscott? The case that hinged on the level of digestion of the contents of Lynne Harper's stomach? That was the extent of their evidence. There were no witnesses to anything abnormal and just a reconstruction that was consistent with both sides.

That was the only real evidence they had. A faulty method for ascertaining time of death based on the level of digestion of the last meal. A method which is incredibly prone to large errors based on: individual digestive tract, stress levels at time, activity levels at time, and simply intrinsic variability. They used this to state that Mr. Truscott was lying about when he dropped Ms. Harper off on the road. That is what the case hinged on. Its not reasonable in the slightest.

 

[lone wolf]

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt. This isn't the first time its been judicially reviewed, and the facts of the case all point to Steven Truscott as the perpetrator. If the conviction is overturned it will be because he simply exhausted the will of the judiciary to refight this. It also capitulates to uninformed public and press opinion which has cast Truscott as a victim of judicial malfeasance. The truth doesn't bare that out, but almost 40 years after the crime nobody is willing to represent Lynne Harper anymore. The parents of the victim, the original prosecutors are all dead.. and everyone has moved on. But Lynne still lies in her grave, her life ended at 11 years of age.. and the truth, regardless of the opinion of the mediocrities that now fill our political and judicial offices, is still out there.

Sorry, but that smacks of "you-lie-and-I'll-swear-to-it" laws geared for conviction rather than justice.

Wolf

 

[tamarin]

I think the lad should be happy with an acquittal. As stated before, this case has garnered lots of media attention over the years. The very fact this scrutiny hasn't produced more than an acquittal speaks volumes.

 

[lone wolf]

I think the lad should be happy with an acquittal. As stated before, this case has garnered lots of media attention over the years. The very fact this scrutiny hasn't produced more than an acquittal speaks volumes.

What it means is the Ontario Justice system has a means to argue against compensation.

Wolf

 

[tamarin]

With suspicion still rife about Truscott maybe it behooves the province to move slowly.

 

[#juan]

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt. This isn't the first time its been judicially reviewed, and the facts of the case all point to Steven Truscott as the perpetrator. If the conviction is overturned it will be because he simply exhausted the will of the judiciary to refight this. It also capitulates to uninformed public and press opinion which has cast Truscott as a victim of judicial malfeasance. The truth doesn't bare that out, but almost 40 years after the crime nobody is willing to represent Lynne Harper anymore. The parents of the victim, the original prosecutors are all dead.. and everyone has moved on. But Lynne still lies in her grave, her life ended at 11 years of age.. and the truth, regardless of the opinion of the mediocrities that now fill our political and judicial offices, is still out there.

There is plenty to read on the trial of Steven Truscott. Things that caught my eye were the speed at which the trial was completed. Just three months after the murder Truscott was sentenced to hang. Lynn Harper was the daughter of an officer. Steven Truscott was the son of an enlisted man. witnesses who saw Harper get in a car were ignored. Other witnesses were coached to change their story. Stomach contents, which are the least reliable forensic evidence were the big part of the prosecution's case against Truscott. A known pedophile was ignored for some reason. Probably the worst thing was the indifference or incompetence of Truscott's defence council.

 

[Impetus]

Slowly???? This happened in the 50's...

I think perhaps you forgot the "tongue in cheek" graemlin....

Muz

With suspicion still rife about Truscott maybe it behooves the province to move slowly.

 

[tamarin]

Nah, I'm talking about compensation. Something that's become a bit of an era avatar.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I looked at the case for conviction some time ago, and it struck me as pretty convincing.. beyond a reasonable doubt. This isn't the first time its been judicially reviewed, and the facts of the case all point to Steven Truscott as the perpetrator. If the conviction is overturned it will be because he simply exhausted the will of the judiciary to refight this. It also capitulates to uninformed public and press opinion which has cast Truscott as a victim of judicial malfeasance. The truth doesn't bare that out, but almost 40 years after the crime nobody is willing to represent Lynne Harper anymore. The parents of the victim, the original prosecutors are all dead.. and everyone has moved on. But Lynne still lies in her grave, her life ended at 11 years of age.. and the truth, regardless of the opinion of the mediocrities that now fill our political and judicial offices, is still out there.

As others have pointed out, it isn't very convincing (at least of his guilt) at all. However, even if you believe he was guilty he has served well beyond the normal 25 years most murderers get now. It would be unreasonable that he still in prison.