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Clayton Johnson - Pyzer Criminal Lawyers

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Clayton Johnson - Pyzer Criminal Lawyers

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This article describes Clayton Johnson's wrongful conviction, the compensation he received, and how police and investigators went wrong with this case.

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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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Clayton Johnson - Wrongful Conviction - 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...

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Clayton Johnson, a man wrongfully convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Janice Johnson

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Attached is a forensic files episode on the death of Janice Johnson and the wrongful conviction of Clayton Johnson. This video includes a live action representation of the steps leading up to Janice's death, the discovery of her body, and every step leading up to Clayton's conviction, including interview clips from Clayton Johnson, his daughters, and others.

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Medical Detectives (Forensic Files) - Season 4, Episode 9 - Accident or Murder?

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Video - Tale of Suspicion, Clayton Johnson Wrongfully Convicted of Murder

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Video - Tale of Suspicion, Clayton Johnson Wrongfully Convicted of Murder

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Attached is a Fifth Estate video detailing the case of Clayton Johnson and his wrongful conviction. This video includes narration describing the death of Janice Johnson and the case of Clayton Johnson, and includes interviews with Clayton, his daughters, and more on the impact the time he spent behind bars has had on their lives.

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

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Clayton Johnson and his daughter Darla head from Nova Scotia Appeal Court in Halifax in 2002.

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This website includes the entire case of Clayton Johnson including what factors led to his wrongful conviction, his acquittal, the compensation he received, and more.

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Author: Sarah Harland-Logan

Introduction

Clayton Johnson's happy life as a carpenter, high school industrial arts teacher, church volunteer, loving husband and father of two was shattered on February 20, 1989. That morning, his wife, Janice, fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and lost consciousness, while Clayton was out of the house on his way to work. Janice's body was found by a neighbour, who called paramedics immediately. Despite their rushing Janice to hospital, it was too late to save her. Janice passed away at 12:04 p.m.[1]

At first, police agreed with the doctor who performed Janice's autopsy that her fatal fall had been accidental. However, the investigation was reopened in the summer of 1989, due to rumours in the community which suggested that Clayton had killed his wife. Specifically, many people were suspicious of the fact that Clayton had recently taken out a life insurance policy that covered Janice. There was gossip suggesting that this decision might be connected to Clayton's new relationship with a young woman named Tina Weybret, which started several months after Janice's death. However, on June 10, 1990, the police again closed the investigation, since they had not found anything that would justify charging Clayton.[2]

Further Police Investigation

Despite the fact that police had not turned up any evidence that Clayton had harmed his wife, RCMP officer Cpl. Brian Oldford took it upon himself to look into the matter further. Cpl. Oldford had not been involved with the case at its earlier stages, but in the summer of 1990, he nonetheless began to conduct his own investigations into Janice's death. He re-interviewed two friends of the family - Mary Davis and Mary Hartley - who had helped to clean up the blood from Janice's head wounds after her death in order to spare her family from seeing it. The two stated that they had observed widespread blood splatter, which was inconsistent with Mary Davis' statement on the day of Janice's death. Mary Hartley had not given a statement at the time of Janice's death. Cpl. Oldford provided these new opinions to Dr. David King, of the Regional Forensic Pathology Unit in Hamilton, Ontario. He did not provide Dr. King with the original police reports, which told a different story. On January 17, 1991, Dr. King concluded that Janice had been struck and killed - and the two Marys' testimony played an important role in his opinion.[3]

Cpl. Oldford then sought a second opinion from forensic pathologist Dr. Charles Hutton, who also was not provided with the original police reports. Dr. Hutton, too, concluded that Janice had been murdered.[4]

Given these two expert opinions, it is not surprising that in April of 1992, Clayton was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of his wife.[5]

Clayton's Trial and Incarceration

At trial, the prosecution claimed that Clayton had murdered Janice in order to collect on her life insurance policy and pursue a new relationship with Tina. Even though there was no evidence to suggest that Clayton and Tina had been romantically involved before Janice's death, the Crown suggested precisely that. The forensic pathology evidence from Dr. King and Dr. Hutton was the centrepiece of the Crown's case. The jury members were also encouraged to believe that they could discern Clayton's supposed murderous motives and guilty conscience from wildly speculative "evidence" such as "when Clayton cried, or did not cry," "his failure to pass a school bus on the highway," and "his being five minutes later to school than was typical for him."[6]

Clayton staunchly maintained that he was innocent, as he had done ever since his arrest. He told 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."[7]

On May 4, 1993, Clayton was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife. After the jury returned this verdict, the trial judge asked Clayton if he had anything to say. His response was simply, "No, other than I didn't do it and I am innocent and that's all I can say."[8]

Clayton was incarcerated at Renous Penitentiary, where he would spend the next five years. Had his wrongful conviction not been discovered, he would still be in prison today: Clayton would not have been eligible for parole until 2018.[9]

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, which dismissed his application on February 2, 1995. Clayton spent the next five years languishing in prison for committing a murder that had never happened.[10]

A Miscarriage of Justice

Clayton contacted Innocence Canada (formerly AIDWYC) in November of 1995, and the organization took his case. With Innocence Canada'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 Innocence Canada prepared a wide variety of material for the Minister of Justice, which demonstrated that Clayton had been wrongly convicted.[11]

Innocence Canada addressed the blood-spatter question by consulting experts in the field who had been apprised of all the evidence (unlike Dr. King and Dr. Hutton). These experts concluded that Janice's death had been an accident: she had fallen backwards down the stairs, and her head had briefly been wedged between the stairs and the wall. One of the experts spelled out in his report that "There is no question in my mind that the death of Mrs. Johnson was the result of an accident. It was not a homicide."[12]

Furthermore, Innocence Canada demonstrated that the credibility of the evidence from Mary Hartley and Mary Davis regarding the blood stains they claimed to have observed was dubious at best. Mary Hartley was interviewed on November 15, 1990 - nineteen months after Janice's death. The officer's notes indicate that "Mary stated that there was so much blood around now that she thinks of it." However, these notes also explain that "Mary stated that she felt she should tell me [that] ... she took one of the photos partly out of its file" when the officers were out of the room. "She was able to see the wound to the right side of Janice's head. She stated that she never used to think anything other than [that] Janice fell downstairs." After seeing the photo of Janice's head wounds, she had concluded that her original theory "couldn't have happened as there was nothing sharp on the stairs ... to cause what she saw." In other words, Mary Hartley understandably, but destructively, revised her memory to accord with what she had seen in the file.[13]

Mary Davis was interviewed the day after Mary Hartley, and gave a statement that differed dramatically from her original statement. This time around, she too recalled observing a great deal of blood splattered in different locations.[14]

As for the life insurance policy, Innocence Canada pointed out that Clayton had bought this insurance for both himself and his wife after a teachers' union representative suggested that buying life insurance would be a wise choice since Clayton did dangerous construction work in addition to his teaching job. Clayton wanted to know that his wife and daughters would be provided for if something happened to him, so he followed this advice and bought the policy.[15]

Finally, there was no reason at all to believe that Clayton's relationship with Tina had any sinister aspect. He had contacted Tina after his wife's death, initially for emotional support. The pair became romantically interested in each other a few months after Janice's death. The two were very open about their relationship, dating in public places and sitting together in church. On June 30, 1990, Clayton and Tina were married. Tina adopted his daughters, and the pair stayed together until after Clayton's conviction (when, as seen above, he was sent to prison for the indefinite future). The total absence of evidence that Clayton and Tina had done anything wrong did not, however, stop the prosecutor from asking questions that obviously suggested that Clayton had been cheating on Janice with her.[16]

Clayton's Acquittal

On September 21, 1998, the Minister of Justice sent Clayton's case back to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, requiring the court to reopen it. On September 25, Clayton was finally released from prison, after spending five years behind bars for a crime that never occurred.[17]

Three and a half years later, Clayton's name was cleared at long last. On February 18, 2002, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal quashed Clayton's conviction and ordered a new trial that would include the overwhelming new evidence - collected "from 22 experts in forensic pathology, engineering, biomechanics, physics and human postural dynamics" -proving that Janice's death was accidental. However, the Crown decided not to enter any new evidence, meaning that rather than being subjected to a lengthy, painful trial, Clayton was finally free.[18]

Causes of Clayton's Wrongful Conviction

As noted by the Innocence Canada lawyers who composed the s. 690 application for ministerial review, Clayton was wrongly convicted because of a combination of "overzealous police investigation; an overreaching prosecution; misleading expert evidence; and a climate of suspicion in which prejudice and speculation were easily substituted for reason and evidence."[19]

Despite the lack of any concrete reasons to support this theory, some officers (including Cpl. Oldford) reached their own conclusions that Clayton had murdered his wife. In addition to blinding them to evidence of Clayton's innocence that should have led them to drop the investigation, it is possible that the officers unconsciously transmitted their strong beliefs to Mary Hartley and Mary Davis, altering these witnesses' recollections about the day of Janice's death. Human memory is very malleable and fades very quickly. As a result, "people are particularly prone to having their memories affected by misinformation when it is introduced after the passage of time has allowed the original event memory to fade." [20] This fact might explain why it was so easy for both Marys to change their minds - over a year after the fact - about what had happened on the day that Janice passed away, when presented with cues that suggested to them that their friend had actually been murdered.

All of these investigative problems, however, were rooted in the suspicion and baseless gossip that began to swirl around the community after Janice's death. Neither Clayton's decision to purchase a life insurance policy for Janice (and for himself), nor his relationship with Tina, had any relevance at all to his guilt or innocence but the police and prosecutors seemed to become infected by the toxic atmosphere created by community gossip. It is vitally important that law enforcement and officers of the court remember that their role is to be objective and dispassionate in the pursuit of justice, rather than allowing their personal preferences and prejudices to cloud their judgment.[21]

Wounds that Innocence Canada Cannot Heal

Clayton was able to clear his name, but as the judge who released him from his five years in prison pointed out, the time "unjustly taken from him ... can never be restored." Moreover, Clayton was of course separated from his young daughters, who were only 11 and 9 years old at the time of Janice's death. The girls had in effect lost both their parents in rapid succession, and were sent to live with their paternal grandparents while their father was in jail for their mother's murder. As the AIDWYC lawyers put it in their application for ministerial review, these girls "lost their mother through fate; they...lost their father through a miscarriage of justice."[22]

Unlike many other wrongly convicted people, Clayton was lucky enough to be successful in his subsequent lawsuit against the government, in which he argued that he was due compensation for the almost unimaginable losses he sustained. Clayton received $2.5 million dollars.[23] While this figure is substantial, no amount of money could ever replace the loss of five years of his life, which should have been spent with his already grief-stricken family rather than apart from them in jail.

[1] R v Johnson, [1998] NSJ No 381 at para 8, 131 CCC (3d) 343 (Freeman JA) [R v Johnson]; Applicant's Factum in the Matter of an Application Under Section 690 of the Criminal Code, between Her Majesty the Queen (Respondent) and Clayton Johnson (Applicant), dated March 31, 1998, at paras 3-5, 8, 12, 13, 16, 18, 206 [Applicant's Factum]; CBC News: "Clayton Johnson Walks as Crown Balks at New Trial." February 18, 2002, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clayton-johnson-walks-as-crown-balks-at-new-trial-1.346679 ["Clayton Johnson Walks"].

[2] Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at paras 21-24.

[3] Ibid at paras 25, 37, 30.

[4] Ibid at para 31.

[5] "Clayton Johnson," Injustice Busters website: http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/ClaytonJohnson.htm.

[6] Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at paras 24, 29, 31, 214.

[7] Ibid at paras 33, 200.

[8] Ibid at para 33.

[9] Ibid at para 1; Richard Perry, Department of Justice: "Clayton Johnson Settlement." June 18, 2008, at Nova Scotia Canada: http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20040618007 ["Clayton Johnson Settlement"].

[10] Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at para 1.

[11] Ibid at paras 2, 32, 37.

[12] Ibid at paras 9, 36, 37, 199.

[13] Ibid at para 97.

[14] Ibid at para 92.

[15] Ibid at para 209.

[16] Ibid at paras 225, 228-230.

[17] R v Johnson, "Clayton Johnson Walks," supra note 1.

[18] "Clayton Johnson Walks," supra note 1; Chris Hansen, Public Prosecution Service: "Crown Halts Clayton Johnson Murder Prosecution." February 18, 2002, at Nova Scotia Canada: http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20020218002.

[19] Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at para 262.

[20] Elizabeth F Loftus, "Planting Misinformation in the Human Mind: A 30-year Investigation of the Malleability of Memory" (2005) 12 Learning & Memory 361-366 at 361.

[21] Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at 273-247.

[22] R v Johnson, supra note 1 at para 12; Applicant's Factum, supra note 1 at paras 6, 295.

[23] "Clayton Johnson Settlement," supra note 9.

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Author: Sarah Harland-Logan Clayton Johnson's happy life as a carpenter, high school industrial arts teacher, church volunteer, loving husband and father of two was shattered on February 20, 1989. That morning, his wife, Janice, fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and lost consciousness, while Clayton was out of the house on his way to work.

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Innocent Prisoners React To Being Released From Prison

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Innocent Prisoners React To Being Released From Prison

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I included this video for two reasons; I had a very difficult time finding more than two videos specifically dedicated to Clayton Johnson, and I found that this video is very touching after reading so much about various innocent people being locked up for crimes they did not commit. This video shows the emotional strain that wrongful imprisonment has on not only the person in prison, but their family and friends' lives. This video shows the reactions of those who have been wrongfully convicted when they are told they will finally be free to go home to their families.

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Top 10 Reactions Of Innocent Prisoners Set Free

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Clayton, Dawn, and Darla Johnson outside Nova Scotia Appeal Court in Halifax on Monday, Feb.18, 2002

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Clayton Johnson and his daughters Dawn and Darla Johnson

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Clayton Johnson and his daughters Dawn and Darla Johnson

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Wrongfully Convicted Clayton Johnson passes away in 2017

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Wrongfully Convicted Clayton Johnson passes away in 2017

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This article not only discusses the passing of Clayton Johnson, but his wrongful conviction and the steps he took to appeal that conviction along with his life after being released from prison.

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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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Click to read my written assessment on Clayton Johnson