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This video includes many small details that were left out of most articles. For example it states that Elizabeth's friend Marianne, who had testified in court and said she had seen Robert and Elizabeth together the day she died, was already brainwashed by media and Elizabeths family to believe he was the killer, before she had even mentioned what she had seen. This may have been the sole reason for her mistaken statement on what she had seen that night, which in turn led to his wrongful conviction.

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Young Robert Baltovich before conviction.

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Young Robert Baltovich before conviction.

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Young and innocent Robert Baltovich was robbed of 8-9 of the most important years of his life because of his wrongful conviction. Simple things like a mistaken eye witness testimony, and failure of the police to believe anything other than Baltovich being the murderer was enough to convince the jury that he was the only person that could have possibly been guilty of the murder.

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Once again the idea of Paul Bernardo being the actual killer of Elizabeth is brought up in conversation. This video was recorded as Baltovich was trying for acquittal, once it had been said that it is a possibility the real killer has been identified. It had previously been said that Bernardo was never a suspect in the beginning because his name had not yet been identified.

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Hidden evidence that may have been the sole reason for Robert Baltovich's wrongful conviction.

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Hidden evidence that may have been the sole reason for Robert Baltovich's wrongful conviction.

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It has been stated that an interview between the police and forensics was hidden from the jury before trial, but surfaced years later when looking through 13,000 papers on Robert's case. This could have saved him 9 years in prison and proven his innocence from the beginning. This makes the criminal justice system look extremely faulty.

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Robert Baltovich, who was convicted, imprisoned, released and acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend Elizabeth Bain more than 20 years ago, claims to have proof that police and prosecutors withheld key evidence that would have helped exonerate him sooner.

In documents filed at Ontario Superior Court in November last year, Baltovich's lawyers outline how a key record of a police interview with forensics experts "was never disclosed to Baltovich or his trial counsel or his appellate counsel."

Baltovich's lawyers also contend that a copy of the police investigator's notebook provided to them was altered to erase evidence of the meeting.

The new evidence was submitted as part of Baltovich's $13 million lawsuit against the Attorney General, the two homicide detectives assigned to his case, the Toronto Police Services Board and his original defence lawyers.

Baltovich, who spent almost nine years behind bars and nearly nine more on probation preparing his appeal, was found not guilty at his second trial in 2008 because the Crown decided to present no evidence.

After his acquittal, the province refused to compensate Baltovich for the wrongful conviction.

Twenty-two-year-old Bain disappeared on her way to an evening class at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus in June 1990. Her body was never found and the investigation and prosecution of her boyfriend, Baltovich, occupied the front pages for years.

Police contended that Baltovich killed Bain and hid her body for several days in Colonel Danforth Park before putting it into her car and driving up to the Lake Scugog area, where he disposed of it.

When Bain's car was discovered three days after she went missing, it contained a significant amount of blood. Homicide investigators were called in and quickly turned their attention to Baltovich.

Last spring, one of Baltovich's lawyers discovered a one-page handwritten note in the 13,000 pages of evidence gathered by police.

The note was written by Det.-Sgt. Brian Raybould and recorded a discussion he had with two forensics experts two days after Baltovich was arrested.

The forensics experts told Raybould that there was too much blood in the car for a body that had been left outside for days, the note allegedly states. If a body had been put into the car two to three days after death, it would have left a strong odour and blood stains would have been darker in colour, not bright red as the police found them.

"As a result of the advice he received (from the forensics experts), Raybould knew or ought to have known that the Police Theory was flawed and untenable," the claim states.

Defence lawyers weren't given access to the document and the Crown continued to deny its existence, even after repeated requests, the claim states.

In a responding motion, the Attorney General claims the defence could have found that note at any time. During the original 1992 trial, the Crown had an "open box" policy of allowing the defence to access all evidence, the government response says.

Crown council John Corelli wrote a letter in 2004 that says Baltovich "(for the past 12 years) has had an open invitation to look at the police investigative file. It was not until last week that the defence chose to look at the investigative file."

"A diligent review in 2004 of the police investigative file ... would have found the same 'Raybould note,'" the government claim states.

Baltovich's claim also says handwritten notes from Raybould's notebooks were missing several pages. In September last year, lawyers for the police produced the missing pages that detailed the meeting with the forensics experts.

In the original copy of the notebook provided to Baltovich's lawyers in 1999, Raybould wrote a date on the first page after the omitted pages "to make it appear that it was in sequence," the claim states. The new copy has no date on that page.

The claim states that Raybould concealed the meeting with the forensics experts before during and after Baltovich's original trial.

Baltovich's claim also points to several other pieces of evidence that weren't disclosed to his defence team including an entry in Bain's dairy that refutes Crown claims that she had broken up with Baltovich in the days before she was murdered.

Attorney General spokesperson Brendan Crawley and Baltovich's lawyer David Robins declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation.

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Elizabeth Bain murder: Robert Baltovich says police hid key evidence | The Star

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Robert Baltovich, who was convicted, imprisoned, released and acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend Elizabeth Bain more than 20 years ago, claims to have proof that police and prosecutors withheld key evidence that would have helped exonerate him sooner.

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Tunnel vision & mistaken eye witness testimony.

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Tunnel vision & mistaken eye witness testimony.

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This article shows just how many things were wrong with this case. It almost looks as though it wasn't accidental. There are so many factors contributing to this wrongful conviction that should have been looked into deeper such as mistaken a mistaken eye witness testimony, even when Baltovich had proof he was at home the night of Elizabeth's murder and the tunnel vision of the jury who disregarded the questionable reliability of their witnesses.

"The jury believed Marianne’s and David’s evidence even though there were serious questions about the reliability of each person’s testimony."

"David’s eyewitness testimony that he had seen Robert in Elizabeth’s car was also problematic. He agreed that he “wasn’t really paying attention” "

"Marianne said that she had seen Robert and Elizabeth sitting together at a picnic table on campus at 5:40 p.m. on the day of her disappearance. If her evidence was correct, Robert was almost certainly her killer. Robert maintained that he had been at home with his family at that time; several of his family members confirmed that this was true."

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In fact, Innocence Canada (formerly AIDWYC) lawyer James Lockyer, who represented Robert during the arduous appeal process described below, believes that "the evidence shows ... [Bernardo] probably did it." Robert, on the other hand, understandably prefers not to think about this alarming possibility, since "it's just too terrifying to think he could be the guy."

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Robert and Elizabeth Bain before her murder.

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Robert and Elizabeth Bain before her murder.

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Articles mention that Robert and Elizabeth had a very normal loveing relationship, with the occasional argument. A small detail like this may have been enough to convince the jury that he was the killer.

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At the time of Robert Baltovich's arrest the name of serial rapist Paul Bernardo was not yet known. However, years after the wrongful conviction of Baltovich, once Bernardos name was well known by that point, Baltovich's lawyer had brought up the idea that it could have been Bernardo that was responsible for the murder. In this video he asked the simple question "did you kill Elizabeth Bain?" Bernardo proceeds to direct the conversation in a different direction which makes it seem as though he is trying to talk his way around the question. This is something that has been looked closely at in other murder cases and seen as a go to escape route for those that are actually guilty.

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Paul Bernardo, Did you kill Elizabeth Bain?"

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If this photo is related to the article that states that the attorney general refused to give Baltovich any compensation whatsoever, it becomes even more saddening that being young and proven innocent, after spending some of the most important years of your life in prison for a crime you didn't commit, isn't even enough for the attorney to show any sympathy. Roberts case was not seen as "rare" or "unusual" so any form of compensation for the misjudgment of this case was disregarded. This is sickening and is one of the most questionable and worst wrongfully convicted stories i have heard of yet. Most victims are compensated for their struggles, yet someone who had almost a decade of their life, plus the remainder of it (in a way) taken away from them doesn't deserve anything?

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After a wrongful conviction made my investigators, police, and a jury that failed to pay proper attention to the case and its evidence, or lack of, a refusal of compensation is just adding to the failure of the system. Not only was the wrongful conviction bad enough, but the people responsible for it don't feel the need to make amends for their mistakes just adds even more negativity towards how the criminal justice system processed this case.

"The attorney general's decision today just demonstrates an indifference to the plight of these two men wrongfully convicted," Lockyer said. "It just seems to me to be an extraordinarily indifferent decision, as bad as anything, as unconscionable as anything I've run into for a while."

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Two men who were wrongfully convicted of crimes and later acquitted were denied compensation Wednesday by the Ontario government despite ordeals their lawyer said "completely wrecked" their lives.

Attorney General Chris Bentley said financial compensation only applied to "rare, unusual cases" and wasn't appropriate in the cases of Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer.

"They have both been found not guilty as a result of the steps that the justice system has taken," Bentley said. "I actually think that speaks to one of the strengths of the justice system in the province of Ontario and in Canada generally."

Baltovich won an acquittal in 2008 for the murder of his girlfriend Elizabeth Bain, a crime for which he served eight years behind bars, while Hanemaayer served two years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in 1987.

Lawyer James Lockyer sought compensation in both cases as well as an inquiry into why it took the province's top court so long to quash Baltovich's conviction. Calls for a public inquiry were also denied.

"The attorney general's decision today just demonstrates an indifference to the plight of these two men wrongfully convicted," Lockyer said. "It just seems to me to be an extraordinarily indifferent decision, as bad as anything, as unconscionable as anything I've run into for a while."

Civil suits possible

Neither Baltovich nor Hanemaayer were surprised with the decision given they way they've been treated by the justice system, Lockyer added.

"Their lives were completely wrecked by what happened to them, the amount of time they spent in jail," said Lockyer, who is also a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted.

"Rob Baltovich was in for eight years. He went into jail with a recently acquired university degree and has come out unable to secure employment.

"Anthony Hanemaayer is without employment because he can only work seasonally at roofing."

Lockyer has advised them both to pursue a civil lawsuit to try to get financial compensation, and expects them to be successful.

When he initially asked the government to consider compensation in 2008, Lockyer said Baltovich could launch a civil suit against the police for negligence, against the Crown for breach of his Charter rights, and certain individuals in the case. But Lockyer added he didn't want to engage in yet another adversarial court process unless it was "absolutely necessary."

Baltovich was handed a life sentence in 1992 after he was found guilty of killing Bain, who disappeared in 1990, and served eight years before he was given a chance to appeal his case. He was released on bail in 2000. Five years later, Ontario's highest court quashed his conviction, ordering a new trial.

Baltovich was acquitted minutes into that second trial when the Crown said it had no evidence to support a conviction.

Lockyer has alleged the crime was committed by infamous serial rapist and schoolgirl killer Paul Bernardo - a claim Bernardo has denied.

Hanemaayer pleaded guilty part way through his 1989 trial for the assault of a 15-year-old Toronto girl, opting for a sentence of two years less a day instead of the stiffer six- to 10-year term he faced - a fact Bentley said figured into his decision.

The London, Ont., roofer was linked to the crime on the strength of eyewitness testimony by the victim's mother.

Hanemaayer had his record wiped clean in 2008 after the Ontario Court of Appeal heard the Crown believed Bernardo committed the offence - Bernardo had confessed to the crime in a jailhouse interview with police two years earlier.

NDP slams government

NDP critic Peter Kormos said the government's move to deny the men compensation shows a "shameful disregard" for people who were let down by the criminal justice system.

"It's important that they be compensated, and if anything it sends a clear message to the players in the system - police, Crowns and courts - that there will be a price to be paid when the system fails innocent people," said Kormos.

Nearly 20 Canadian men and women have had wrongful convictions acknowledged over the last decade.

Steven Truscott was 14 when he was sentenced to hang when he was convicted of the 1959 murder of schoolmate Lynn Harper. He spent months on death row until his sentence was commuted to life in prison and was paroled in 1969.

The Ontario Court of Appeal declared Truscott a victim of a miscarriage of justice and acquitted him of the crime, but stopped short of declaring him innocent due to a lack of physical evidence.

Truscott received a $6.5-million compensation package from the Province of Ontario - a package Bentley described as an "extremely unusual, once-in-a-lifetime situation."

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No cash for wrongfully convicted men: Ontario | CBC News

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Two men who were wrongfully convicted of crimes and later acquitted were denied compensation Wednesday by the Ontario government despite ordeals their lawyer said "completely wrecked" their lives. Attorney General Chris Bentley said financial compensation only applied to "rare, unusual cases" and wasn't appropriate in the cases of Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer.

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“It’s eating away at me knowing the person who committed this crime is literally out there for the taking. At the very least, if they reopen the investigation with a new perspective and a new set of eyes, they may realize the killer is staring them in the face,” he says in an exclusive interview.

Within this article it is said that even after Robert was proven innocent, police still insisted they "had the right man all along." This is another prime example of the tunnel vision that most likely had the greatest impact on Roberts wrongful conviction. The police lacked information from the beginning, so whether they were still insisting he is guilty for the sake of saving themselves and the consequences of their misjudgment, or whether they genuinely believe he is guilty, this shows lack of investigation and critical thinking which puts a massive strain on the case and the truth behind it. Investigators are one of the most important parts within any case, and if they fail from the start, it may contort an entire case and its verdict. Within this article it is clear that Robert desperately wants the police to reopen the case to find the real criminal, but he should never had had to mention this, because it should have already been done.

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Their reaction was swift and definitive: "The case is solved."

Even as Robert Baltovich was emerging from the downtown courthouse following a second trial that found him not guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Bain, Toronto Police were stubbornly insisting that despite the verdict, they had the right man all along. There were no other suspects. There was no more investigation to be done.

Baltovich believes it's high time they admitted that's not true.

"It's eating away at me knowing the person who committed this crime is literally out there for the taking. At the very least, if they reopen the investigation with a new perspective and a new set of eyes, they may realize the killer is staring them in the face," he says in an exclusive interview.

"Whoever committed the crime, it's clear now that I didn't."

The proof, Baltovich insists, was hidden in the Crown's files for decades and only uncovered a few years ago as his civil lawyers were sifting through 13,000 Crown documents in preparation for his $13-million lawsuit for malicious prosecution.

According to the police timeline, Baltovich killed Bain on June 19, 1990 before she attended her night class at U of T's Scarborough campus. He hid her body nearby in Colonel Danforth Park and moved her Toyota to Morrish Rd. In the early hours of June 22, he used her car to move her body to the Lake Scugog area and then returned her Toyota to the same Morrish Rd. spot where it had been seen by witnesses, according to allegations.

Yet just days after arresting Baltovich in November 1990, former homicide detective-sergeant Brian Raybould had a meeting at the Centre of Forensic Sciences where he was told the police theory was scientifically "untenable."

If Bain had been killed almost three days earlier, the scientists said, the blood found in the rear foot well of her Toyota Tercel would have been darker and there would have been a pungent odour consistent with a body that had decomposed for several days. Instead, the forensics suggested Bain was transported in her car within three hours of her murder - not almost three days later. And Baltovich could account for his movements on the night of June 19 and the early morning of the following day.

The lawsuit claims Raybould buried the meeting and even doctored his notes to hide it - an allegation he's denied and has not been proven court.

Baltovich believes police tunnel vision doomed him from the start.

"I want an official apology," he says. "I didn't feel like anything remotely like that was forthcoming in 2008. Instead, they suggested I was still responsible."

That impression was only compounded in 2010 when the Ontario government refused to compensate him for his wrongful conviction. Shortly after, he launched his civil lawsuit.

Never married, Baltovich lives a fairly anonymous life. His masters degree in library science isn't helpful in today's job market so he's working at a social services agency and teaching English as a second language. He looks very much like he did when he was at the centre of a sensational murder case though his dark hair is a bit thinner and flecked with a little grey. Few seem to recognize him from those years in the headlines.

After all this time, you wonder why he would abandon that anonymity to go public with his demand that the case be reopened.

"I feel there's this ghost hovering over me that can't go away," explains Baltovich, 51, as he sits outside an Annex coffee shop. "I don't want to live the rest of my life not knowing what happened. I realize my efforts might not be enough and at some point someone is going to have to investigate this case in an official capacity in order to bring the proper person to justice."

A lot of his spare time is spent poring over transcripts and disclosed documents, searching for clues to the identity of Bain's killer. His appeal lawyers suggested it was Paul Bernardo - though the sex killer denied he was involved when interviewed by Toronto Police in 2007. Baltovich has his suspicions about another possible suspect closer to the Bain family, but he wants an outside police service to look into it.

"I understand that by reopening the investigation, that's a tacit acknowledgement that they arrested the wrong man but the forensic evidence has shown they did. That ship has sailed."

Toronto Police still feel differently. "Pending any new evidence that is brought forward," says spokesman Meaghan Gray, "the Toronto Police Service considers this case closed,"

***

Outside the Bains' Scarborough home, little has changed from that day their beautiful daughter left for the tennis courts and never returned. There is still a wagon wheel by the porch and a white gate at the end of the driveway.

Little has changed save for the memorial garden of flowers dedicated to their slain child. Without a grave, it is the only marker they have.

Ricardo Bain comes to the door, surprised that a journalist would still be covering the story about his daughter's death after all these years. The 77-year-old grandfather scoffs when told about Baltovich's crusade to reopen her murder case and find the real killer.

"Good luck to him," he says. "There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that he did it."

He admits he never liked Baltovich and grew suspicious when he seemed so cold and unperturbed in those desperate days following the disappearance. It didn't matter that there was no evidence linking him to her murder. "His demeanour was all wrong. Everything was all wrong," he explains. "The way he behaved, the things he said to us, all of those things are more important to me than finding a knife under his bed. Sometimes the strongest cases are built on circumstantial evidence. A 150 little arrows point in one direction."

He will entertain a "1%" chance that Baltovich isn't guilty. As for the possibility that Bernardo was the killer, that's a "red herring" that he and his wife Julita have never believed.

Bain has his own complaints about the justice system. He's bitter that Baltovich's appeal and retrial were postponed so long that 18 years after the murder, the Crown could no longer mount a viable case against him. "I feel very strongly he is the right guy. But it doesn't keep me awake at night."

The rest of his family has found it harder to deal with: His three surviving children have moved to the west coast and his wife battled cancer, which he blames on the tragedy.

Baltovich's acquittal in 2008 was another blow. The man they are sure killed their child told a crush of reporters that he hoped the Bains could eventually accept that he wasn't responsible. "I loved her. I miss her. Maybe one of these days we can get together and grieve together," he said.

Those were fine words, Bain says, but Baltovich has never made any overture toward them. "He could have sent one flower to my wife and a note saying, 'I'm sorry. I loved your daughter.' He could have sent a note to test the waters. But he didn't." He shrugs then. "Maybe it's just as well."

For years, the grieving father searched for her body, trudging through forests and fields, before finally giving up when no trace of her had been found. In his dreams, he sees her under water. "You live with it every day until you die."

But he is not consumed by any need for vengeance. "I don't hold any grudge against him. I just think he's guilty, that's all, and it's part of his personality that he will go to his death denying what is obvious."

And then Bain offers this surprising statement before heading back into his home.

"I forgave him a long time ago. I decided my health was more important. That's all you have left at the end. I think we've all forgiven him."

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Baltovich demands apology years after acquittal

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Their reaction was swift and definitive: “The case is solved.”Even as Robert Baltovich was emerging from the downtown courthouse following a second trial that found him not guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Bain, Toronto Police were stubbornly insisting that despite the verdict, they had...