Huron Expositor, 2002-10-02, Page 15News
TME HURON EXPOSITOR, October 24,2001-7
New book may help prove Truscott's innocence
By Dave Emsllie
Clinton News -Record Editor
As a man and as an
individual, Julian Sher
believes that Steven Truscott
is innocent of the crime for
which he was convicted and
sentenced to hang over 40
years ago.
And while his beliefs may
not be enough to finally help
Truscott clear his name,
information gathered for his
new book is sure to help in
the appeal process.
Truscott, then 14, was
found guilty of the rape and
murder of 12 -year-old Lynne
Harper in 1959, when the
two were classmates at the
former CFB Clinton.
Sentenced to hang for the.
crime, and placed on death
row, Truscott's sentence was
later commuted to life.
Serving 10 years in prison,
Truscott never wavered from
his statement that he was
innocent.
And now, with fresh
evidence that he was wrongly
convicted in the crime, an
application will be made to
the Minister of Justice in
November, asking that she
review his case.
Sher presents compelling
evidence of Truscott's
innocence in his book "Until
You Are Dead": Steven
Truscott's Long Ride into
History , which was released
last week.
While he first became
involved in the Truscott case
while producer of the award
winning CBC episode of the
fifth estate, "His Word
Against History", a
documentary which raised
many questions about
Truscott's guilt, Sher noted in
a phone interview last week
that it was a story that has
long held interest for him.
"This is a case that touched
a chord across Canada," and
not just in Clinton, Sher said.
"It marked Clinton for a
generation...it marked
Canada for a generation," he
continued, adding that
anyone growing up in
Author Julian Sher and Steven Truscott
Canada in the 1950s and '60s
was aware of this case, and
knew that a 14 -year-old was
sentenced to hang.
And even years later, the
author said, the story
continued to haunt
Canadians, as it raised
questions about the justice
system and about the death
penalty. "The story always
refused to die," he said.
Doing research for the
book held many surprises for
the author, not the least of
which was the fact that he
was able to go back to the
scene, and see many things
as theywere at the time, even
though 40 years had passed.
"I spent weeks and weeks
in Clinton," he said, adding
that he can close his eyes and
see the bush where Harper's
body was found; the old
base; the railway tracks that
Steven said he and Lynne
crossed on their way to the
highway on the night she
disappeared.
To be able to go back and
capture a town, he said, was
incredible. In his research, he
was able to speak to
Truscott's former neighbours,
teachers and friends. He
spoke with Truscott's mother,
his brothers, his children, not
to mention guards who were
in the penal system while he
was serving his time, and
doctors who treated the
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young man.
More amazing than having
the opportunity to find and
speak with the many people
with connections to Truscott,
though, was the discovery of
"this mound of documents"
with reports that were kept
not only from the public, but
also from the jurors who
found the 14 -year-old guilty.
"The jurors were 12
ordinary men, who made a
decision based on what they
were told," Sher said, but his
research has turned up facts
that were never presented.
One such fact was in regard
to statements made that
Harper was not the kind of
girl who would hitchhike.
"Her mother testified on
the stand to that effect. But
defence lawyer Frank
Donnelly did not have access
to three separate OPP and
military police reports which
proved beyond a doubt that
her parents' first fears were
indeed that Lynne had
hitched a ride to her
grandmother's house in Port
Stanley, Ont. 'It waspossible
she was hitchhiking to her
grandmother's,' her parents
told police the night she
disappeared."
Jurors also did not hear
about a key missing witness
in the case. Material
provided regarding the book
states: "Truscott claimed he
gave Harper a lift on his
bicycle to a highway
intersection, where she
hitched a ride. The jury
disregarded testimony from
two boys who said they saw
Truscott and Harper
approach the highway well
away from the bush where
Lynne's body was later
found. Until You Are Dead
reveals there was a secret,
missing witness named
Karen Daum who
corroborated the boys'
account. The nine-year-old
girl told police that Truscott
and Harper had also passed
her well beyond the bush. If
the children were correct,
Steven Truscott could not
have been the murderer. But
the Crown kept the signed
police statement from the
defence and Daum was never
called to testify."
The book also pokes holes
in one of the most important
pieces of evidence, the
testimony of pathologist John
Penistan regarding the time
of death.
"The Crown's single most
important piece of testimony
was pathologist John
Penistan's insistence that his
analysis of Harper's stomach
contents proved the girl died
between 7:15 and 7:45 p.m.,
shortly after eating supper,
on Tuesday, June 9 - exactly
when Truscott was last seen
with her. Today, modern
science dismisses such
precision as unreliable and
irresponsible," the press
guide reads.
Even when, years later,
Penistan wrote of going
through an "agonizing
reappraisal" of his medical
evidence, the information did
not make it to the Supreme
Court, where an appeal on
the case was being heard.
The information provided
states: "In May of 1966, Dr.
John Penistan wrote to
Harold Graham - by now
assistant commissioner of the
OPP on his way to becoming
the head of. the force -.to
advise him of an 'agonizing
reappraisal' of his own
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medical evidence. In a draft
article for a scientific joumal,
the pathologist who had
pinpointed Harper's death to
within a half an hour now
admitted that the state of
decomposition of the body
was 'not incompatible with
death a day previously or a
day later.' Penistan's startling
reversal of his trial testimony
came as the Supreme Court
of Canada began an
unprecedented hearing into
Truscott's case in late 1966.
By 1967, the court upheld
Truscott's guilty verdict
based largely on the medical
evidence. But prosecutors
kept Penistan's views from
the nine Supreme Court
justices and never called him
to testify."
These are just some of the
questions raised in the new
book, and it is just such
questions that lead Sher to
the belief that Truscott is
innocent. "As a man, as an
individual, do I think he's
innocent? Yes," he said.
And he is not alone in this
belief, as he noted, "Every
prison guard who spent time
with Steven is convinced of
his innocence." He added
that they thought of him as a
good man, who could not
have committed the crime.
Truscott's dilemma,
though, is that while people
think of him as a wonderful
human being, that does not
make him innocent in the
eyes of the law, Sher said.
"However, there is
overwhelming evidence in
the book that there was a
miscarriage of justice," he
said, adding that the point of
the request to the Minister of
Justice that she review the
case is that there was a
miscarriage of justice.
"Implicit in that is innocence
- a man was wrongly
convicted."
Pointing out that only one
out of every 100 cases is
overturned in a review by the
Minister of Justice, Sher said
that Truscott will have a
strong case, one reason being
that there is fresh evidence to
be presented - evidence
which was not heard by
jurors and the defence
lawyer.
There is also political and
public sympathy being
expressed for Truscott, Sher
said, and times have
changed. Since Truscott was
convicted and served his
time, Canadians have come
to realize that even those in
authority can make errors,
which all have seen in cases
such as those involving
David Milgaard and Guy
Paul Morin.
The Association in Defence
of the Wrongly Convicted
has taken on Truscott's
cause, and has been
preparing an application on
his behalf to the Minister of
Justice. "We expect to
complete our work in
November of this year, at
which time we will release to
the public a copy of our brief
to the Minister," a release
from the Association states.
The Association release
makes note of Sher's book,
and states, "In the book,
Julian Sher makes a
compelling case that Mr.
Truscott was wrongly
convicted of the murder of
Lynne Harper in 1959."
Asked about Truscott's
views of the book, Sher
stated, "He likes it a lot."
Sher added that to him, most
importantly, Truscott felt that
he had captured the mood of
growing up in the Clinton
area.
At a reading and question
and answer period regarding
the book in Guelph on
Monday night, numerous
Clinton residents were in
attendance, as was Truscott
and his family.
Sher said people can help
by buying the book and
spread the word of the case;
they can write to their
Members of Parliament and
ask for action; and write to
the Justice Minister Anne
McLellan.
"Just keep up the pressure,"
he said.
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