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An attorney goes into detail on how people are accused of crimes they didn't commit.

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A photo of James after he was released from prison after 13 years.

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This is a video explaining how he was wrongfully convicted.

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Despite the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial, there are still cases in Canada in which innocent people are convicted - most disturbingly, for murder. the fifth estate investigates the murder convictions of four Manitoba men and the Crown prosecutor, George Dangerfield, who presided over all of them.

In the 1980s, as Manitoba's star Crown Prosecutor, Dangerfield was legendary for his creativity and flair in the courtroom and his apparent disdain for defence lawyers. He was successful in getting convictions for some of the most notorious murder cases in that province. But, two of those convictions have been overturned, charges quashed on a third, and a federal review of a fourth is ongoing, making Dangerfield responsible for the most wrongful murder convictions in Canada. In The Wrong Man, reporter Bob McKeown looks back on the three cases and reveals a possible fourth.

At the heart of the story are three men: Thomas Sophonow, James Driskell, and Kyle Unger. Beginning with Sophonow, the prosecution of their cases covered more than a decade. It would take another decade before their convictions began to unravel, with revelations of the Crown's withholding of crucial evidence, bargains and deals with jailhouse informants, questionable testimony and coerced confessions.

In the past year, the case of Frank Ostrowski of Winnipeg became public and fit a familiar pattern. In 1987, Ostrowski was convicted of a murder he insisted he did not commit. The prosecutor at his trial was George Dangerfield. After 23 years in prison, Ostrowski is now out on bail, awaiting a legal decision that will determine if he, too, will join the list of Sophonow, Driskell and Unger.

In interviews with McKeown, the men reflect on their lost years spent behind bars - reputations destroyed, their own lives and those of their families shattered. As for Dangerfield, he is retired now and living in Vancouver, where McKeown confronts him.

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The Wrong Man - Episodes - The Fifth Estate

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Despite the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial, there are still cases in Canada in which innocent people are convicted - most disturbingly, for murder. the fifth estate investigates the murder convictions of four Manitoba men and the Crown prosecutor, George Dangerfield, who presided over all of them.

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This video talks about The Innocence Project that was created in 1992 that uses DNA to help people who have been wrongfully convicted get out of jail. The hairs that had been found in Driskell's van and assumed to be Perry Harder's, the DNA tests proved that it wasn't actually his and helped exonerate Driskell.

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Fighting Wrongful Conviction: The Innocence Project

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This article goes through all the events that took place throughout 1990 to 2005 surrounding his conviction.

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After spending 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, James was given $4,000,000 in compensation for what he had been through. I believe that was a fair amount of compensation and gave him enough to start his life back over.
The article also talks about how he was found not guilty and the factors that led to him being charged.

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WINNIPEG - James Driskell, the Winnipeg man who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, is being offered $4 million in compensation from the province and city.

Driskell had been suing police and prosecutors for $20 million, but reports from Winnipeg city council made public Friday indicated all sides have agreed to a $4-million payout for Driskell and $25,000 extra for his mother.

Under the deal, which city council still has to formally agree to Sept. 24, the city would pay $1.61 million and the province would fund the rest.

A provincial government spokesperson declined comment except to say: "A tentative settlement is under consideration by the province and the city and it would not be appropriate for us to say any more until both parties have had a chance to consider it."

Driskell could not immediately be reached for comment.

He had been convicted in 1991 in the death of Perry Dean Harder.

Both Driskell and Harder had been charged with auto theft, and the Crown contended Driskell shot Harder several times in the chest in June 1990 to keep him from giving incriminating evidence, then dumped his body in a shallow grave near some railway tracks.

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted eventually took up the case and challenged key evidence used to put Driskell behind bars.

The Crown had accused Driskell of killing Harder in the back of his van, pointing to three hairs in the van an RCMP lab labelled as belonging to Harder.

However DNA tests done in England at the request of the association later revealed none of the hairs belonged to Harder.

Driskell was released on bail in 2003 and the federal justice minister quashed the conviction in 2005. The Crown didn't pursue another trial.

A subsequent inquiry delivered a scathing report last year, saying prosecutors and police were partly to blame.

In his report, commissioner Patrick LeSage said police "failed to disclose material information to the Crown before, during and after Driskell's trial."

As well, LeSage said, the Crown didn't correct misleading evidence the jury heard at Driskell's trial - specifically the false testimony of key Crown witness Ray Zanidean, who told the jury he was not getting special treatment or payments in exchange for his testimony.

In fact, Zanidean had been given immunity on an arson charge in Saskatchewan and was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and compensation.

The report also said then-police inspector Jack Ewatski, later Winnipeg's chief of police, "contributed to Driskell's continued incarceration" by not disclosing a report he prepared on the case in 1993 - two years after Driskell was convicted - which raised new questions about the Crown's case.

Driskell has kept a low profile since his release, working odd jobs and spending time with his wife, eight children and 12 grandchildren.

He has said the case points to a systemic problem in the justice system that may have put many other innocent people behind bars.

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james driskell prison wrongfully convicted

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Wrongly convicted James Driskell offered $4M deal

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WINNIPEG - James Driskell, the Winnipeg man who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, is being offered $4 million in compensation from the province and city. Driskell had been suing police and prosecutors for $20 million, but reports from Winnipeg city council made public Friday indicated all sides have agreed to a $4-million payout for Driskell and $25,000 extra for his mother.

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James in court appealing his statement of innocence.

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This website goes into full detail explaining the entire situation surrounding his conviction and the injustice he went through.

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Justice Patrick LeSage, who served as the Commissioner for the Inquiry into Certain Aspects of the Trial and Conviction of James Driskell, began his report by stating that "Failure to disclose information to [James] Driskell is the central issue of this Inquiry" and that "At that heart of [this] ...

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The man who spent 13 years in Prison in Winnipeg, for a crime he did not commit.