Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Hamilton

TORONTO -- The dozen years an Ontario man has languished in jail for raping and killing a four-year-old girl is just one more painful reason Canada needs a better system to deal with wrongful convictions, his supporters said Tuesday

"It's very upsetting after the number of wrongful convictions that have happened in this country," Dalton said.

"The list is getting very long."

Lockyer said Canada needs an independent tribunal to review claims of wrongful convictions such as one set up in the U.K. eight years ago.

It has already found more than 50 murder convictions were unjustified.

"All we have now is a sort of a piecemeal examination of a case here and case there primarily brought forward by our organization," said Lockyer. "It's just not good enough."

Lockyer said Ontario has been "the worst province" when it comes to dealing with such cases and that promises made after the notorious wrongful murder prosecution of Guy Paul Morin have gone unkept.

© Canadian Press 2005

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