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Clayton was released from prison as the courts decided what to do with his case. he was not yet a free man.

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Clayton was finally given the verdict he deserved- whole case was dropped against him and he was finally a free man.

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Nova Scotia Court of Appeal orders new trial for convicted murderer

Clayton Johnson, convicted of murdering his wife nine years ago, is a free man after Nova Scotia's prosecution service decided Monday it would not push for a new trial.

Earlier in the day, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal paved the way for a new trial for Johnson, a man convicted nine years ago of murdering his wife, who died in her home in February 1989 after having fallen down a flight of stairs. Johnson has always insisted he was innocent.

JOHNSON TRIAL CHRONOLOGY

February 20, 1989: Janice Johnson is found lying unconscious at the bottom of a set of basement stairs at her home in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. She dies from her injuries in the hospital.

May 4, 1993: Johnson's husband, Clayton, is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for his wife's death.

March 8, 1994: The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal unanimously dismisses Clayton Johnson's appeal.

February 2, 1995: The Supreme Court of Canada dismisses an application to appeal the case

March 31, 1998: Clayton Johnson and the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted submit an application to Canada's Department of Justice to revisit the case. On the same day the CBC program the fifth estate airs an investigative documentary on Clayton Johnson's conviction.

April 3, 1998: John Briggs of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is named to assist the Department of Justice in the investigation of Johnson's application.

July 30, 1998: The investigation into Johnson's case and application is completed.

September 21, 1998: Clayton Johnson is freed after several pathologists conclude the death was the result of a freak accidental fall that resulted in massive, fatal head injuries. The Minister of Justice refers the case to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, noting the power of this court to acquit Johnson, something the minister can't do.

February 18, 2002: The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal orders a new trial, overturning the original conviction. Earlier the same day, the Crown had said it will not enter any new evidence. Johnson is a free man.

"Mr. Johnson leaves court today an innocent man," Chief Justice Joe Kennedy said Monday afternoon.
Johnson was convicted of murder in the beating death of his wife, Janice Johnson, who was found unconscious on Feb. 20, 1989. She was found at the bottom of a flight of stairs at their Shelburne, N.S. home.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has agreed with a joint motion from the Crown and defence, which asked that Johnson's murder conviction be set aside.

Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment with 25 years to be served before he is eligible for parole. He served five years of his life sentence.

On March 8, 1994, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal from Johnson. On Feb. 2, 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application from Johnson for leave to appeal.

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Clayton Johnson walks as Crown balks at new trial | CBC News

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Nova Scotia Court of Appeal orders new trial for convicted murderer Clayton Johnson, convicted of murdering his wife nine years ago, is a free man after Nova Scotia's prosecution service decided Monday it would not push for a new trial.

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All sources listed below

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Every news station was talking about this wrongful conviction.

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The Canadian justice system conceded another miscarriage of justice yesterday, this time in the bizarre case of a man imprisoned for a murder that most likely was a fluke accident.

After serving 1,872 days behind bars for the first-degree murder of his wife Janice, Clayton Johnson first was granted a new trial and then was acquitted in a day-long roller coaster of legal manoeuvring.

Just five hours after hearing the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal grant his retrial, the 56-year-old man listened in tears as the province's top judge acquitted him and virtually insisted that the country see Mr. Johnson for what he is, an innocent man.

That Mr. Johnson was forced to spend five years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit was, "to state the obvious, regrettable," Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy said in a voice tinged with indignation.

"The conviction in this matter has been quashed," he declared loudly. "Let's not be equivocal about it." In an interview shortly afterward, Mr. Johnson expressed thanks to the chief justice. "This not only brings justice for me, but for Janice, too," he said. "Now she can rest in peace."

Mr. Johnson was convicted of the murder three years after his 36-year-old wife died on Feb. 20, 1989. She was found unconscious at the bottom of the basement stairs of their home in Shelburne, N.S.

The basement washing machine was on. Ms. Johnson was lying, gasping for breath, in a large pool of blood. Her car keys were clutched in her hand and a high-heeled shoe was nearby, leaving a clear inference that she had misgauged a step while rushing up to meet a friend who was coming over with his daughter so Ms. Johnson could take the child to a local carnival.

Police looked carefully at Mr. Johnson at the time. He was not charged with murder until 1992 when an officer became suspicious because Mr. Johnson had remarried so soon after the incident and because he had collected on a $125,000 insurance policy following his wife's death.

Yesterday's outcome, engineered behind the scenes by the Nova Scotia Crown in conjunction with James Lockyer and Philip Campbell, lawyers for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, was a closely guarded secret to all but the family and close friends.

Two dozen of them sat, alternately teary-eyed and beaming, as Mr. Johnson broke down repeatedly during a press conference and had to ask one of his daughters to read a statement.

"It has been 13 long years, and at last the world knows I didn't kill the woman I loved," 18-year-old Darla Johnson read for him.

Crown officials said they were conceding the case because new scientific evidence left "no reasonable prospect" of convicting Mr. Johnson at a new trial. They refused to express any regrets, insisting at a press conference that they had merely done their duty throughout.

Martin Herschorn, director of public prosecutions, said the majority of the 22 forensic experts who were consulted now believe Ms. Johnson likely died in an accidental fall.

"I don't view this as a failure of the justice system," he said. "This is the justice system functioning as it should."

Mr. Campbell strongly disagreed. He said the justice system became blinded by science and treated a loving husband and father as "some kind of ruthless, deadly assassin."

Had it used plain common sense and reason, Mr. Campbell said, Mr. Johnson would never have been even a suspect. Mr. Lockyer added that at the very least, Mr. Johnson deserves generous compensation and an apology from the provincial government.

Mr. Johnson intends to continue living in the small town of Shelburne, where he has been building furniture and doing home renovations since his release on bail in 1998.

Mr. Johnson's daughters, Darla and Dawn, were 12 and 9 when their mother died. In effect orphaned by their father's conviction, they thanked their community for its support yesterday.

Shortly after Ms. Johnson's death, he married a local woman, Tiny Weybret, in the hope that she could help him raise his two daughters. With her new husband suddenly jailed for life, Ms. Weybret reluctantly divorced him and remarried. The children were left to be raised by relatives. Clayton Johnson and other wrongly accused victims
Wilbert Coffin
1953: The bodies of three American hunters are found in Quebec's Gaspé region.

1956: Mr. Coffin is hanged after being convicted of murder and losing a series of appeals. His defenders argue that he was framed by the government of then premier Maurice Duplessis, which feared the case would hurt tourism if left unsolved.
Steven Truscott
1959: The raped and strangled body of Lynne Harper, 12, is found near Clinton, Ont. Three months later, Steven Truscott, then 14, is convicted.

1969: He is released from prison and begins a long campaign for vindication.

2000: He asks the federal government for a formal review.
David Milgaard
1969: The partly clad body of Gail Miller, 20, is found in a Saskatoon snowbank.

1970: Mr. Milgaard is sentenced to life in prison for murder.

1992: The Supreme Court of Canada recommends a new trail after hearing evidence of a series of rapes committed in Saskatoon by another man. Mr. Milgaard is freed.
Donald Marshall
1971: Sandy Seale, 16, is fatally stabbed in a Sydney, N.S. park where he was seen with Mr. Marshall. Mr. Marshall is convicted of murder.

1982: He is cleared after witnesses in his trial say they lied under pressure from Sydney Police. Another man is later convicted of manslaughter.
Thomas Sophonow
1981: Waitress Barbara Stoppel, 16, is found strangled in a washroom at a St. Boniface, Man., doughnut shop.

1982-85: Mr. Sophonow is arrested, tried three times and convicted twice before being freed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal on grounds of legal errors in the third trial.
Guy Paul Morin
1984: The body of Christine Jessop, 9, is found in a field.

1985-92: Mr. Morin is arrested, tried, acquitted, tried again and convicted of murder.

1995: He is cleared and offered compensation after DNA testing excludes him as the source of semen found on the child's underwear.
Ronald Dalton
1988: Brenda Dalton, 29, dies of asphyxiation in Gander, Nfld.

1989-2000: Mr. Dalton, her husband, is convicted of strangling her and is imprisoned. He eventually wins a new trial at which he is acquitted after forensic pathologists testify that Ms. Dalton choked to death on food.
Clayton Johnson
1989: Janice Johnson, 36, is found with fatal head injuries at the bottom of the basement stairs in her Shelburne, N.S., home.

1993-2001: Mr. Johnson, her husband, is convicted of bludgeoning her to death.

2001: The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal orders a retrial yesterday, then the province's top judge acquits him.
Greg Parsons
1991: Catherine Carroll is killed in her St. John's home.

1994: Mr. Parsons, her son, is convicted of murder.

1998: DNA evidence clears him. Police later charge a former family friend with murder.
Randy Druken
1993: Brenda Marie Young, 26, is found stabbed to death in her St. John's home.

1995: Mr. Druken, her boyfriend, is convicted of murder.

1999-2000: The conviction is set aside and prosecutors halt proceedings after a jailhouse witness recants testimony that Mr. Druken confessed to him.

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Wrongly convicted man cleared in wife's death

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The Canadian justice system conceded another miscarriage of justice yesterday, this time in the bizarre case of a man imprisoned for a murder that most likely was a fluke accident. After serving 1,872 days behind bars for the first-degree murder of his wife Janice, Clayton Johnson first was granted a new trial and then was acquitted in a day-long roller coaster of legal manoeuvring.

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Johnson walking out of the court house with his youngest daughter.

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The day Clayton is released from prison. He is seen with his two daughters.

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Clayton Johnson with his wife Janice Jo

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Clayton Johnson died of an unknown illness.

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Clayton Johnson, who spent five years in prison wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, has died.

Johnson was a former teacher and carpenter. He died last week at the age of 71, according to an obituary posted on the website for H.M. Huskilson's Funeral Homes and Crematorium Ltd.

Johnson's wife, Janice, died after a fall down the stairs in the family home in 1989. Johnson was accused of beating her to death, was convicted of murder in 1993 and was sent to prison.

He maintained he was innocent throughout.

The road to freedom

He appealed his conviction, but in 1994 the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal refused to overturn it. A year later, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to the hear the case.

Things started to turn around for Johnson in 1998 when he and the Association in the Defence of the Wrongly Convicted submitted an application to Canada's Department of Justice to revisit the case. On the same day, the CBC program The Fifth Estate aired an investigative documentary on Johnson's conviction.

Release from prison

By September of 1998, Johnson was freed after several pathologists concluded his wife's death was the result of a freak accidental fall that resulted in massive fatal head injuries.

However, it took until Feb. 18, 2002, for the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to overturn the original conviction and order a new trial. There was never a new trial and Johnson was a free man.

Johnson then launched a lawsuit against the provincial government to claim damages for wrongful arrest and imprisonment. He was awarded $2.5 million in compensation.

Life after prison

Once out of prison, Johnson ran a contracting business until he retired. His obituary said he had a passion for woodworking and carpentry.

Johnson is survived by his daughters and grandchildren. His obituary states the was a kind, loving and compassionate man who had a deep faith in God. It also said he enjoyed spending time with family and friends, sharing laughs, playing cards and watching baseball.

The obituary said Johnson suffered from an illness before he died, but didn't say what that illness was.

A funeral for Johnson will be held at H.M. Huskilson's Funeral Home in Shelburne on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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Shelburne man, wrongly convicted of wife's murder, dies | CBC News

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Clayton Johnson, who spent five years in prison wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, has died.

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Clayton was wrongfully convicted of his wife's death in 1989.

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Forensic Files   Convictions Overturned   Accident or Murder 1

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The police had gotten the verdict correct the first time with an accidental death due to falling down a flight of stairs.

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Clayton Johnson was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. On the morning of February 20, 1989his wife, Janice, fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and lost consciousness. This occurred while Clayton was out of the house on his way to work. Janice's body was found by a neighbour. She died later that afternoon at the hospital.

Initially police and with the doctor who performed Janice's autopsy concluded that her death had been accidental. Later that summer the police reopened the investigation into her death as the police fed into rumours in the community which lead them to suspect that Clayton had killed his wife. Specifically, the facts that Clayton had recently taken out a life insurance policy that covered Janice, as well that he had a new girlfriend shortly following his wife's death. The investigation was closed on June 10, 1990 and no charges were laid against Clayton.

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Independently Cpl. Brian Oldford continued to investigate the matter further. He found two of Clayton's friends to provide forensic evidence that suggested a murder had occurred, as well he had a second expert review the findings of Janice's autopsy, Dr. King. Dr. Kind concluded that Janice had been struck and killed January 17, 1991. Furthermore Oldford sought a second opinion from forensic pathologist who independently concluded that Janice had been murdered. On April of 1992, Clayton was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of his wife.

At trial, the Crown used circumstantial evidence to suggest a narrative that made Clayton a likely perpetrator. As well the Crown relied heavily upon the further medical opinions offered by the secondary police investigation. Clayton maintained his innocence. He gave compelling testimony at his trial, telling the jury that "I had nothing to do whatsoever with the injuries caused to Jan. I loved her too much, as I love my two girls. I just don't know how the injuries occurred. I know I didn't - let God be my witness, I had nothing to do with it whatsoever." The jury was not convinced and on May 4, 1993, Clayton was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife.

Clayton appealed his conviction to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. This Court dismissed his appeal on March 8, 1994. He then applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, also dismissed on February 2, 1995. Clayton spent the next five years in prison for committing a murder that had never happened.

In November of 1995 with AIDWYC's help, Clayton submitted an application for ministerial review of his conviction, under s. 690 (now s.696.1) of the Criminal Code. This application was granted, and AIDWYC and Clayton prepared material for the Minister of Justice. The material they prepared demonstrated that Clayton had been wrongly convicted. They were able to call into question the expert medical opinions that Janice had been murdered. The also demonstrated that the witnesses against Clayton lacked credibility and demonstrated alternative explanations for the circumstantial facts, the life insurance policy and his new girlfriend, that the Crown had used to suggest Clayton's guilt. On September 21, 1988, the Minister of Justice sent Clayton's case back to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, having the court to reopen it. On September 25, Clayton was released from prison, after spending five years in prison. It took over three more years but Clayton's finally cleared his name, as on February 18, 2002, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned Clayton's conviction and ordered a new trial. The Crown decided not to enter any new evidence to proceed against Clayton. Clayton went on to receive $2.5 million dollars after a successful lawsuit against the government.

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#wrongfullyconvictedwednesday Clayton Johnson - Pyzer Criminal Lawyers

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Clayton Johnson was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. On the morning of February 20, 1989his wife, Janice, fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and lost consciousness. This occurred while Clayton was out of the house on his way to work. Janice's body was found by a neighbour.

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Janice was found bleeding a great deal from her head and unconscious at the bottom of the basement stairs. she was brought to the hospital but sadly died later at 12:04pm.

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The case was reopened due to rumors and hearsay around the community stating Clayton killed his wife

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The case was closed again as not enough evidence was found to the new allegations

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A police officer did his own investigations regarding the suspicions of the community. He interviewed two people who changed their statements leading to further investigat

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A new forensic pathologist came to the conclusion that Janice had be the victim of foul play.

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Clayton Johnson was arrested for the murder of his wife Janice

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Clayton was found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife.

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Nova Scotia court of appeals dismissed his application

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Supreme Court of Canada dismissed his application

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Innocence Canada sent an application for appeals to Canada's department of justice

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Application and investigation into Clayton Johnson was completed

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Clayton Johnson was released from prison

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Nova Scotia court of appeals dismissed Clayton's charges and he was finally a free man

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Mr. Johnson was a regular man, working as a carpenter, and high school arts teacher.

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He was a regular church goer with his wife and two kids. His whole world came to a crashing halt on February 20th, 1989

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Evidence proves that Clayton did not kill his wife.

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Forensic Files   Convictions Overturned   Accident or Murder 2

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On the morning of February 20th, 1989, Janice Johnson was doing laundry when she fell down a flight of stairs. Police first ruled her death as an accidental fall. Later on, police re investigated Janice's death and eventually convicted Clayton of First degree murder.

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Full Documentary on the trial

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Clayton Johnson wrongful murder conviction : Tide of Suspicion (1998) - The Fifth Estate