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ROMEO PHILLION WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND AFTER HEARING HIS WAS INNOCENT

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ROMEO PHILLION AND THE MISSING EVIDENCE

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When a police officer heading a murder investigation decides it is impossible that a particular suspect was responsible, and states so in writing, you might believe the suspect is well in the clear.

Not in the case of onetime Ottawa drifter Romeo Phillion, still behind bars after serving almost 30 years for a killing he has long denied. As in other Western jurisdictions, the phenomenon of long-time penitentiary inmates being vindicated by new evidence has become increasingly familiar in Canada. But that does not make this set of events any less shocking.

As is often the case with suspects who are wrongly accused, Mr. Phillion's lifestyle set off alarm bells when he first came under scrutiny back in 1967. Police investigating the robbery-murder of Ottawa-area fireman Leopold Roy were quickly alerted to Mr. Phillion by Mr. Phillion's prostitute girlfriend, who said she saw a resemblance to a police composite sketch of the fleeing killer. With a criminal record encompassing theft, assault and living off the avails of prostitution, Mr. Phillion was no model citizen. But he denied all knowledge of Mr. Roy's murder, no charges were laid and the investigation remained open.

The next year, powerful evidence surfaced to buttress Mr. Phillion's claim of innocence. Lead detective John McCombie interviewed a gas-station operator near Trenton, Ont., 240 kilometres from the crime scene, who recounted meeting Mr. Phillion on the day of the homicide, within a time frame so narrow it appeared to rule him out as the killer. Certainly that's what Mr. McCombie believed. "We do not believe that Romeo Phillion is responsible for this murder," he concluded in his subsequent report.

End of story? Unfortunately not. Fast-forward three years.

In 1971, Mr. Phillion was arrested for holding up an Ottawa cab driver at gunpoint. In the course of that investigation, the bisexual Mr. Phillion's drag-queen boyfriend claimed Mr. Phillion had once admitted to the Roy killing. Anxious, he says, to spare his boyfriend further police interrogation, Mr. Phillion then signed a confession, which he almost immediately tried to retract. Too late. He was charged with murder, and largely because of that damning confession he was convicted. No physical evidence linked him to the crime.

But what of Mr. McCombie's gas-station report? It vanished, as did much other evidence, including Mr. McCombie's notebooks, a knife that may have been the murder weapon, and some hair and tissue found under the victim's fingernails. No one in the defence camp, least of all Mr. Phillion's trial lawyer, was even aware of Mr. McCombie's exculpatory report until it mysteriously surfaced in Mr. Phillion's prison files a couple of years ago. Nor, it seems, was the Crown. As for the now-retired Mr. McCombie, today he says he can't remember what he wrote but remains certain of Mr. Phillion's guilt.

An evidentiary gap on this scale goes far beyond the routine wrangling about disclosure. It cuts to the very heart of our justice system. There is a wealth of conflicting circumstantial evidence in this case, and Mr. Phillion may or may not be guilty. The Innocence Project, a group within York University's law school that has doggedly pursued the case, firmly believes he is not.

Beyond dispute, however, is that reasonable doubt is sufficient grounds for an acquittal, and that had the trial jury been apprised of Mr. McCombie's 1968 report, obtaining a conviction would have been extremely difficult. Did police deliberately bury the report? It certainly looks that way.

Mr. Phillion, meanwhile, remains in prison because he refuses to apply for parole. Remorse -- a willingness to acknowledge guilt -- is a bedrock tenet of the parole system, and Mr. Phillion will have none of it, because he insists he is innocent. David Milgaard's infamous penitentiary sentence ran a full 23 years for much the same reason.

Now the federal Justice Department is being asked to re-examine this mess under Section 690 of the Criminal Code, which allows convictions to be reviewed in the event of fresh evidence. Mr. McCombie's 1968 report amounts to precisely that. The department should reopen the case with all possible speed.

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When a police officer heading a murder investigation decides it is impossible that a particular suspect was responsible, and states so in writing, you might believe the suspect is well in the clear. Not in the case of onetime Ottawa drifter Romeo Phillion, still behind bars after serving almost 30 years for a killing he has long denied.

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ROMEO PHILLION AT AGE 28 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED

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Romeo Phillion was the longest-serving prisoner in Canadian history to have a murder conviction overturned.

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Romeo Phillion was the longest-serving prisoner in Canadian history to have a murder conviction overturned.

Romeo Phillion spent 31 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder.

Romeo Phillion was convicted in 1972 for the murder of an Ottawa firefighter. More than three decades later, he became the longest-serving prisoner in Canadian history to have a murder conviction overturned. When authorities refused to retry him for the crime, Phillion was denied the chance to be found innocent at trial, and to potentially receive compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.

Early Years

Born in Cobalt, Ontario, on 29 April 1939, Phillion was the fourth of nine children. At the age of eight, his parents sent him to a training school for orphans and truants run by a Christian order. He was sexually abused and bullied.

Phillion grew into a shiftless drifter. He learned to live by his wits, lying and committing petty crimes to survive, and consorting with other two-bit criminals. He compiled a criminal record that included convictions for living off the avails of prostitution, theft and assault.

Leopold Roy Murder

On 9 August 1967, Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy was stabbed to death in an apartment building where he was superintendent. With the help of a description supplied by Roy's wife, Mildred, police assembled a composite sketch of the killer. Days later, Phillion's sometime-girlfriend Gail Brazeau told police that he resembled the composite sketch.

After seeing him in a police lineup, Mildred Roy also stated that there was a resemblance between Phillion and the man who stabbed her husband. In his defence, Phillion proffered an alibi, saying that he had been several hours away from Ottawa that day, in New Liskeard, ON.

Police realized that the lineup evidence from Mildred Roy was insufficient to sustain a criminal charge. They also found Gail Brazeau to be simple-minded and untrustworthy. They released Phillion.

Confession and Trial

For years, investigators remained stymied. Then, on 11 January 1972, Phillion was picked up for questioning in connection with an armed robbery of a taxi driver. Phillion's 18-year-old boyfriend Neil Miller (Phillion was bisexual), was also brought in for questioning.

Phillion surprised the police by suddenly admitting to the Roy murder and agreeing to supply a full confession if he were permitted to see Neil Miller. Hours later, Phillion recanted his confession, but it was too late.

His trial started before a jury on 16 October 1972. The prosecution case revolved around his confession, Mildred Roy's testimony, and a claim by Miller that Phillion had privately confessed to him about the murder.

Phillion's defence lawyer attempted to cast doubt on his client's mental health. He also painted Phillion as someone who would say anything to make himself sound important - including confess to a murder.

The defence also contended that Phillion and Miller had concocted a plan in which Phillion would confess to the Roy murder in hopes of obtaining reward money. According to the plan, Miller was to corroborate the confession.

On 7 November 1972, the jury found Phillion guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years. Before being led away, Phillion predicted to his trial judge that the sentence "will kill me." His subsequent legal appeals failed.

Imprisonment

Phillion was no less erratic behind bars than he had been on the street. In 1990, he walked away from a minimum-security prison in Kingston, ON, and attempted to rob a bank. Handed more than $2,000 by a teller, he caught a cab and returned to his prison, where he handed the money out to other inmates.

Phillion also attempted suicide several times in prison, once lowering a line with fishhooks down his throat and yanking it back up.

When he became eligible for parole, Phillion steadfastly refused to apply because he would not admit to killing Roy. He knew that without conceding guilt, it was highly unlikely that authorities would grant him parole.

McCombie Report

In 1998, a parole officer left a file in Phillion's cell in Kingston Penitentiary. It included a 1968 report written by Ottawa Police detective John McCombie that ruled out Phillion as a suspect in the Roy murder.

The report detailed how investigators had gone to a service station near Trenton, ON, in 1968 to determine whether Phillion was telling the truth about being on his way back to Ottawa from New Liskeard around the time Roy was murdered. The owner of the Trenton service station confirmed to police that Phillion had been there between noon and 1 p.m. that day. Since Trenton is 237 kilometres away from Ottawa, this made it impossible for Phillion to be the killer.

The police report quoted the service station owner saying that Phillion had left his car radio in lieu of paying for a tank of gas and some simple repairs, "therefore making it impossible for him to return to Ottawa by 2:45 p.m. at the time the murder was committed."

The report had not been disclosed previously to Phillion or his lawyer.

Kingston Penitentiary is a federal maximum security institution for offenders serving over 2 years.

Proving His Innocence

Phillion began trying to raise interest in his case. In interviews with the media, he was adamant that he would one day prove his innocence. "They want you to sit there and feel remorse for something you didn't do," Phillion said in 2001. "I'm going to fight on. I'm innocent and they have no choice. I'll take any test they throw at me because I'm innocent."

Phillion conceded that his long-ago confession was a blot that would be difficult to erase. "I was so naive, so stupid," he said. "I kick my butt for what I did. I ruined my life, for a stupid thing."

Phillion stated that his primary motivation for making the false statement had been to ensure that Miller didn't get into trouble.

"Neil was very sensitive; a drag queen," he said. "Being locked up like that . . . he would die . . . It wasn't a confession. It was a false statement."

The Innocence Project and the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) adopted Phillion's case in the early 2000s. In 2003, they submitted a joint application to the federal minister of Justice for a review of Phillion's case using a Criminal Code provision that permits cases to be reopened when there is pertinent fresh evidence.

The two organizations had also unearthed new evidence showing that Phillion had made startling errors in his original police statements. For example, Phillion had taken investigators to a bridge where he had purportedly thrown his bloodied clothes into a river. However, upon learning that the location was inaccessible by car, he had changed his mind and taken them to a different bridge.

Court of Appeal Hearing

While the minister of Justice considered his application, Phillion was granted bail. In 2006, the minister decided that the fresh evidence raised serious questions about whether Phillion had been wrongly convicted. He ordered that a special hearing be held by the Ontario Court of Appeal to reconsider Phillion's case.

During the hearing, Detective McCombie testified to a panel of three judges that he had ultimately discovered other evidence that discredited Phillion's alibi. However, the court majority was skeptical of the claim and concluded that Phillion had not received a fair trial. They ordered a retrial.

Instead, on 29 April 2010, the Crown simply withdrew the charge against Phillion. Prosecutors said it would be futile to attempt to try the case again after so much time had passed. The Crown's decision left Phillion in legal limbo. Unconvicted - yet not shown to have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice - he was deprived of the possibility of obtaining financial compensation, outside of a civil lawsuit.

Supreme Court Ruling

A quiet and well-mannered man in his later years, Phillion never gave up his search for justice. He launched a lawsuit against police and the Crown in 2013. However, it was dismissed by an Ontario Superior Court judge.

Shortly before his death in late 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada disagreed with the lower court ruling and upheld Phillion's right to pursue the lawsuit. Nine months later, however, Phillion died of emphysema at the age of 76, leaving his lawsuit in legal limbo.

Romeo Phillion was imprisoned for 31 years after being wrongly convicted of murder.

The Phillion case has come to stand for the unreliability of eyewitness evidence - such as Mildred Roy's police lineup identification. It is also regarded as proof that, as counterintuitive as the notion may seem, individuals do sometimes falsely confess to serious crimes.

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Romeo Phillion was the longest-serving prisoner in Canadian history to have a murder conviction overturned. Romeo Phillion spent 31 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder. Romeo Phillion was convicted in 1972 for the murder of an Ottawa firefighter.

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CASE OF ROMEO PHILLION

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Uploaded by christina Pellizzari on 2017-11-28.

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ROMEO PHILLION COMING OUT OF THE COURT

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Crown formally withdraws Phillion murder charge

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THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF LEOPOLD ROY

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ARTICLES THAT CAME ON ROMEO PHIILION

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Wrongfully Convicted of Murder Romeo Phillion spent 31 years in prison before being fully exhonerated. He sued the Ontario government, the Ottawa police force and two detectives that worked his case for $14 million. However He died before receiving any compensation