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This was taken the day of Davids' release.

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This article is important because it talks about the David Milgaard case in a very categorized manner. It also, discusses The Joyce Milgaard Campaign .

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David Milgaard was 16 when he was charged in 1969 in the sex slaying of a Saskatoon nurse, Gail Miller. Milgaard's prosecution became one of Canada's most notorious wrongful conviction cases.

David Milgaard was a footloose 16-year-old hippie when he was charged in 1969 in the sex slaying of a Saskatoon nurse, Gail Miller. The Milgaard case was destined to make headlines across the country as it unraveled over the ensuring 23 years, becoming one of Canada's most notorious wrongful conviction cases, and eventually yielding several books and a made-for-television movie.

Miller Murder

Gail Miller was raped, stabbed to death and left in a snow bank at approximately 6:45 a.m. on 31 January 1969. Two hours later, her body was discovered. Police quickly sought out known sex offenders in the area to question them but they could find no obvious leads.

That same morning, Milgaard - accompanied by two friends, Ron Wilson and Nichol John - had arrived in Saskatoon en route from Regina to Calgary. The trio stopped at the home of a mutual friend, Albert "Shorty" Cadrain, around 9:30 a.m., to pick him up and continue their journey.

A month after the murder, Cadrain contacted police to report that Milgaard had acted suspiciously during the drive to Calgary. He also said that Milgaard appeared to have blood stains on his clothing that day. Within 24 hours, police located Milgaard in Winnipeg and questioned him. Milgaard denied any involvement in the murder.

Investigators then located Milgaard's two other travelling companions, Nichol John and Ron Wilson. Their initial police statements provided a strong alibi for Milgaard; both said they had been with him throughout the morning of the attack on Miller and Milgaard had had nothing to do with it.

Milgaard Convicted

In May, however, investigators began hearing reports that Milgaard had entertained friends in a Regina hotel room by re-enacting the Miller murder. The police decided that John and Wilson had lied in their initial statements, and brought them in to be re-interviewed. This time, the youths changed their statements, implicating Milgaard in the murder. John went so far as to state that she had even witnessed Milgaard stab the victim.

Milgaard was charged with first-degree murder on 30 May 1969. His trial commenced before a judge and jury nine months later. After the Crown had presented its case, Milgaard's lawyer elected to call no evidence. Milgaard was convicted on 31 January 1970, and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 10 years.

Two years later, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal.

Joyce Milgaard's Campaign

Throughout Milgaard's incarceration, his mother Joyce Milgaard engaged in tireless activism to draw attention to her certainty that her son was innocent. Possessed of an unerring nose for news and a fat Rolodex of media contacts, Milgaard supplied journalists with a stream of angles in order to keep the story alive and exert pressure on authorities. At one stage in her crusade, she even confronted federal Justice Minister Kim Campbell as television cameras rolled. Milgaard also threatened to camp on the lawn of the Saskatchewan legislature.

In December 1988, David Milgaard applied for a federal review of the case under Section 690 of the Criminal Code - a provision permitting the minister of Justice, after considering fresh evidence, to ask a senior appeal court to review a conviction or to hold a new trial. In February 1991, Justice Minister Kim Campbell dismissed the application. Six months later, a second application - this one focusing attention on potential guilt of Larry Fisher, a known offender - was accepted by Campbell. And in a highly unusual development, the government referred the Milgaard application straight to the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in the country.

Supreme Court

The fresh evidence assembled on Milgaard's behalf included a recantation by witness Ron Wilson. Wilson said that he had been coming down from a drug high at the time of his second police interview, and speculated that police would release him to the street where he could obtain more drugs if he were to give them what they wanted.

Another key piece of fresh evidence involved a 1970 confession by a local sex offender, Larry Fisher. Fisher had admitted to committing six sexual assaults, including four in the same area of Saskatoon where Gail Miller was killed, raising a very real possibility that she was another of his victims.

The Supreme Court heard the fresh evidence in 1992. It issued a recommendation to the federal Justice minister that Milgaard's conviction be quashed and a new trial held. However, its decision disappointed Milgaard and his supporters, in that the court concluded his trial had been fair and not marred by police wrongdoing.

Milgaard Freed

The federal government adhered to the court's recommendation. However, two days later, the attorney general of Saskatchewan decided to enter a stay of proceedings (a halt in the legal process) instead of retrying the case. That meant Milgaard would be freed immediately. Still, he was unsatisfied because the outcome would also make it difficult for him to obtain financial compensation. The province also angered Milgaard's supporters by refusing to call an inquiry, to probe what had gone so wrong in his case.

In 1993, Milgaard filed a lawsuit against Saskatchewan justice officials and police alleging rampant wrongdoing and a cover-up. The legal proceeding moved at a glacial pace, prompting Milgaard to contact James Lockyer, a lawyer with the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC), in 1996. It was known that semen samples had been found on Miller's clothing and retained by the Crown. AIDWYC pressed for them to be tested for DNA in hopes of definitively clearing Milgaard's name.

It took years of legal wrangling for Lockyer to obtain the samples and arrange for them to be tested at a lab in the United Kingdom. The results ultimately excluded Milgaard as being the man who had murdered Miller. Instead, the DNA results pointed directly toward Larry Fisher as being the perpetrator.

AIDWYC Investigation

Through its own investigation, AIDWYC learned that in 1970, Fisher had been well known to police . Furthermore, at the time of the Miller murder, he was renting a basement apartment in the same home as Albert Cadrain lived.

Lockyer and AIDWYC also learned of Fisher's 1970 confession to several rapes in the Saskatoon area, for which he had served a 10-year prison sentence. Released in 1980, Fisher had been arrested within weeks for a new sex attack which led to him being sentenced to another 10-year term.

With new rules governing disclosure of evidence having come into effect across the country, Milgaard's defence team also obtained documents showing that in August 1980, Fisher's ex-wife Linda had contacted Saskatoon police to say that she suspected he had murdered Gail Miller. On the day of the Miller murder, Linda Fisher said, a paring knife had gone missing from their kitchen. She told police that her ex-husband also appeared shocked and flustered when she confronted him that day to accuse him of committing the attack.

At the time that Linda Fisher contacted police, Milgaard was locked away in prison for the crime; police had never followed up on the tip.

Fisher was arrested on 25 July 1997. With DNA evidence linking him to the victim, he was convicted in 1999 of murdering Gail Miller.

Compensation and Inquiry

Meanwhile, a public and media furor had continued to swirl around the Milgaard case. Under intense pressure, the Saskatchewan government appointed retired Québec Superior Court Justice Alan Gold to negotiate a compensation package for Milgaard. His recommendation of a $10-million settlement was accepted by the government.

In 2004, the province also succumbed to demands for an inquiry, appointing Justice Edward P. MacCallum of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench to preside over it.

MacCallum released a series of recommendations and findings in 2008, many of them relating to the retention and disclosure of evidence. In a key conclusion, he found that a Saskatoon police polygrapher who had re-interviewed John and Wilson for a lie-detector test, had exerted unacceptable pressure on them, causing them to change their stories and effectively seal Milgaard's fate with false testimony.

During his 23 years behind bars, Milgaard suffered enormous psychological stress and was physically and sexually assaulted on a number of occasions by fellow inmates. Several times, he had attempted suicide. In the years since his exoneration, he has spoken freely about his suffering and his need to embrace therapy in order to get over his ordeal.

Milgaard is married, has two children and lives in Calgary.

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David Milgaard was 16 when he was charged in 1969 in the sex slaying of a Saskatoon nurse, Gail Miller. Milgaard's prosecution became one of Canada's most notorious wrongful conviction cases. David Milgaard was a footloose 16-year-old hippie when he was charged in 1969 in the sex slaying of a Saskatoon nurse, Gail Miller.

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The police failed to properly investigate all the suspects and targeted and profiled Milgaard. As Nichol John and Ron Wilson, who were friends of David's were on a road trip with him the time the murder took place. David's friends also changed their story in court. However, the police didn't want to reopen the case because they didn't want people to know how incompetent they were. David also had a false testimony. His friends decided to sell him out so that their names would not be brought up.

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Audio from a news panel talking about the lieing witness.

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David Milgaard: A witness changes his story

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During the Supreme Court review, witness Ron Wilson is cited for contempt after a judge accuses him of lying.

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David Milgaard was 16 when he was found guilty of murder, rape, and assault of Gail Miller in Saskatoon in 1969. He was convicted a year later. David wasn't released from prison until 1992, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that he should get a new trial and Larry Fisher was found guilty shortly after. Fisher was sentenced to life in prison in 2000.

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This video summarizes the David Milgaard case and also includes the background of the victim Gail Miller.

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Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/ . Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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"The criminal justice system failed David Milgaard"

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"The criminal justice system failed David Milgaard"

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This article discusses how and why he was wrongfully convicted.

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David Milgaard, who spent 23 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit, might have been released from jail years sooner if police had followed up on a lead they received in 1980, according to a Saskatchewan inquiry into the case.

Milgaard was 16 at the time that Gail Miller was killed in Saskatoon in 1969 and he was convicted in the case a year later. He wasn't released from prison until 1992, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled he should get a new trial. DNA evidence eventually cleared Milgaard and helped convict another man, Larry Fisher.

A commission of inquiry's report into the case, released Friday in Saskatoon, concludes police in that city received a tip from a woman that "might have led to Fisher as a serious suspect in 1980 had it been followed up."

The report on the woman's visit to police was "received, filed, referred and possibly evaluated on a cursory basis within the Saskatoon police, but it went no further. It should have," says the report.

The conviction of Fisher, a convicted serial rapist in Saskatoon, and the ultimate exoneration of Milgaard was based upon critical DNA evidence that arose in 1997. Although Milgaard was released in 1992, the Miller case was not reopened until the new DNA evidence was available.

"The criminal justice system failed David Milgaard," concludes Justice Edward MacCallum, the Alberta judge who headed the inquiry.

Police slammed for 'critical failure' in questioning witnesses

Milgaard, who was originally from Winnipeg and now lives in Calgary, eventually received a $10-million compensation package from the Saskatchewan government. The government also called the inquiry, which wrapped up two years before the release of the report.

The 815-page report, released in two volumes, provides a comprehensive review of all elements of the Milgaard case, from the circumstances surrounding Miller's death to Milgaard's conviction and what MacCallum calls the "epic struggle" led by Milgaard's mother, Joyce, who always believed in her son's innocence.

"There is no simple explanation as to why David Milgaard was wrongfully convicted and why it took so long to reopen his case," MacCallum writes.

However, he singles out the Saskatoon police for what he described as a "critical failure" in the questioning of two key witnesses, Nichol John and Ron Wilson, friends of Milgaard who were on a road trip with him when the murder took place.

They were interviewed by Art Roberts, a police polygraph expert brought in from Calgary by Saskatoon investigators, and that evidence was key to Milgaard becoming a suspect and being found guilty, the inquiry found.

"But for the questioning of John and Wilson by polygrapher Roberts, David Milgaard would not have been charged and tried for the crime of murder," MacCallum said.

"John said that she saw Milgaard stab a woman ... that cannot be true" given that Milgaard was later cleared, MacCallum writes in the report.

"How then did she come to say it? I do not find that she deliberately lied, and I do not find that Roberts induced her to lie, although both must be acknowledged as possibilities. I ... must conclude that [Roberts] somehow pressured John into telling him what he thought to be the truth."

Police acted 'in good faith,' inquiry finds

Despite that finding, the inquiry did not find any malfeasance on the part of police. MacCallum says the investigation was done in accordance with the standards of the day and "in good faith."

"Tunnel vision, negligence and misconduct have been alleged, but not shown," the commissioner writes.

MacCallum said the trial itself was conducted "fairly" by both the Crown prosecutor and Milgaard's defence lawyer.

However, the inquiry was critical of how the judge oversaw the case.

Milgaard's defence was "prejudiced" by a judicial error in applying the rules of evidence, MacCallum says.

He says the defence case was also prejudiced by "excessive intervention by the trial judge when witnesses were testifying."

"Displays of impatience can have profound consequences," writes MacCallum, a trial judge himself in Alberta.

Joyce Milgaard's tactics sometimes hindered her case

Despite the fact that Joyce Milgaard was ultimately successful in winning her son's release from prison and in his eventual exoneration in the murder, the commissioner questioned whether her methods sometimes hindered the cause.

Joyce Milgaard and a team of investigators, lawyers and other supporters often provided information to the media that turned out to be untrue, the inquiry found.

That undermined her credibility with authorities in Saskatchewan and Ottawa, he says.

"The 'media-circus' ... was, I find, counterproductive to the reopening effort in the long-term, although it can be credited with getting Milgaard out of prison and with the quashing of his conviction."

MacCallum also dealt extensively with allegations of a coverup and negligence directed at public officials connected with the case.

"[T]he media campaign weakened confidence in the administration of justice and unfairly hurt the reputation of many individuals involved in the investigation, trial and review of Milgaard's conviction," the report says.

Create independent body on wrongful convictions, inquiry urges

The commission calls for the federal government to create a new independent body in Canada to review allegations of wrongful convictions.

"Had such an agency been in place in 1980, the investigation into the death of Gail Miller would probably have been reopened," MacCallum writes.

He said that commissions of inquiry like his, which cost $10 million, could be avoided if such an agency was in place. MacCallum acknowledged it was a very "expensive exercise."

"If significant public expenditure can be avoided by the establishment of a truly independent, transparent and effective investigative agency, it should be done."

The commission made 13 recommendations in total, including a call for more facilities to support complex autopsies for sudden death cases.

Milgaard 'very pleased' with report

At a news conference after the release of the report, Joyce Milgaard supported the call for an independent body to review allegations of wrongful convictions.

When asked about commission criticism directed at her for how she pursued the matter, she replied: "I did what I felt was necessary."

David Milgaard - who was not in Saskatoon for the report's release - is "very pleased" with the inquiry's findings, Hersh Wolch, a longtime lawyer for the Milgaards, told reporters.

Police methods improved: Saskatoon chief

Clive Weighill, chief of the Saskatoon Police Service, said he has reviewed the report and accepts the findings.

"I respect and agree with the findings of the commissioner in regard to the Saskatoon Police Service and the many other agencies involved," he said in a news release.

He said investigative practices have changed since Milgaard's conviction.

"The Saskatoon Police Service and policing in general have adopted new methodologies and technologies to substantively reduce the likelihood that someone would be wrongfully accused."

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'The criminal justice system failed David Milgaard': inquiry's report | CBC News

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David Milgaard, who spent 23 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit, might have been released from jail years sooner if police had followed up on a lead they received in 1980, according to a Saskatchewan inquiry into the case.

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This shows how Fisher was proven guilty using the DNA on Gails' clothing.

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David Milgaard: Larry Fisher convicted in murder of Gail Miller

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A man is found guilty of the murder for which David Milgaard was wrongly sent to jail.

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A convicted serial rapist and murderer Larry Fisher  testifies at the David Milgaard's inquiry in Saskatoon.

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This was also taken on the day of Milgaard's release