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Wrongfully convicted Robert Baltovich information of case. Here you will also find a list of other wrongfully convicted individuals in Canada.

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Answers to the questions

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Robert Baltovich suing Ontario Attorney General

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Robert Baltovich suing Ontario Attorney General

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Suing for wrongful conviction of the murder of Elizabeth. A 13 million dollar lawsuit against police officers, lawyers, and Ontario Attorney General.

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Baltovich Suing - Video | BramptonGuardian.com

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Watch the Baltovich Suing video from BramptonGuardian.com

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Criminal Lawyer's commentary of Robert Baltovich's Retrial 

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Criminal Lawyer's commentary of Robert Baltovich's Retrial 

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Aspects of what the retrial will be spoken about in regards to the possibility of Paul Bernardo as a suspect.

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Joseph Neuberger appears on Global Evening News, December 2, 2004 to discuss the pending re-trial of Robert Baltovich for the murder of Elizabeth Bain and the expected focus on Paul Bernardo as the likely suspect.

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Robert describes how his 18-year nightmare feels and is enthusiasm to move forward in life.

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Serial Killer Gerard John Schaefer Interview

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Robert Baltovich was acquitted today of second-degree murder after Crown prosecutors declined to offer evidence at his second trial. So the mystery of who killed Elizabeth Bain 18 years ago still remains. Her body was never discovered. Visit thestar.com for the latest News headlines, Sports, Entertainment and more from the voice of the GTA.

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Find relevant information, dates, and timelines.

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Robert Baltovich | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

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Murderpedia, the free online encyclopedic dictionary of murderers. The largest database about serial killers, mass murderers and spree killers around the world

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A $13 million malicious prosecution and negligence lawsuit filed by Robert Baltovich! 

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A $13 million malicious prosecution and negligence lawsuit filed by Robert Baltovich! 

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Robert attempts to recover damages he has occurred for being wrongful convicted from the criminal justice system from lawyers to the courts.

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A $13 million malicious prosecution and negligence lawsuit filed by Robert Baltovich takes aim at a sacred cow - a respected former prosecutor who is now a judge - as well as Toronto police and two former defence lawyers.

Baltovich, 44, who was acquitted two years ago this week of murdering his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, alleges two Crown attorneys - John McMahon and Paul Amenta - intentionally failed to disclose key evidence and misused their office, and that Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General is now "vicariously liable" for their conduct.

McMahon is now an Ontario Superior Court judge.

Brendan Crawley, a ministry spokesman, said the civil court process "is open to anyone who chooses to use it - as Mr. Baltovich has chosen to do with respect to this matter."

But Crawley signalled on Friday that a settlement isn't likely and the ministry intends to fight the lawsuit. Earlier this year, Attorney General Chris Bentley rejected a request for compensation for Baltovich, who spent seven years in prison for the murder, before the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed his conviction and ordered a new trial in 2004.

Louis Sokolov, a Toronto civil lawyer with expertise in representing the wrongly convicted in claims against government, said Baltovich has a tough battle ahead of him because malicious prosecution claims - always notoriously hard to win - have become more difficult thanks to a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision.

Potential plaintiffs must now have "actual evidence" of malice, Sokolov said.

Baltovich is also suing his two trial lawyers, William Gatward and Michael Engel, for breach of contract, alleging they failed to ask for notes made by investigating officers and failed to follow up on invitations from police to go through investigative files.

At Baltovich's 1992 trial, they also refused to concede Bain had been murdered. Her body has never been found.

A statement of claim filed on Wednesday by Baltovich's civil lawyer, Harvey Strosberg, also alleges Toronto police became fixated on Baltovich and failed to follow up on the most natural suspect in the case, Scarborough rapist Paul Bernardo.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

At Queen's Park, NDP MPP Peter Kormos (Welland) castigated Premier Dalton McGuinty for not compensating Baltovich and warned Ontario taxpayers will end up forking over more money than if the Liberals had just settled the case.

"Mr. Baltovich was the victim of serious injustice," Kormos told the Star 's Robert Benzie.

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Robert Baltovich seeks $13M for 'wrongful' conviction | The Star

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A $13 million malicious prosecution and negligence lawsuit filed by Robert Baltovich takes aim at a sacred cow - a respected former prosecutor who is now a judge - as well as Toronto police and two former defence lawyers.

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Disappeared in June 1990 at 22 years old. Still today, there has never been a body found.

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Robert Baltovich, wrongfully convicted in 1992 for the murder of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain.

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Seen walking out from the Don Jail with his lawyer to the left after a new trial.

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These two met while both attending University of Toronto. They had a happy relationship and were planning their future together.

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Robert Baltovich receives no financial compensation from Ontario's Government for 8 years of wrongful conviction! 

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Robert Baltovich receives no financial compensation from Ontario's Government for 8 years of wrongful conviction! 

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Robbed of life and a chance to succeed...

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The Ontario government's refusal to provide financial redress to two wrongly convicted men shows the compensation system is arbitrary and unfair, legal experts say.

Attorney General Chris Bentley said Wednesday it was "not appropriate" to compensate Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer for their pain and suffering.

Media surround Robert Baltovich April 22, 2008, after his acquittal on a charge of murdering Elizabeth Bain in 1990. (RENÉ JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR)

Robert Baltovich and Elizabeth Bain pictured together from an undated Bain family photo album. Bain, 22, disappeared in 1990. Her body was never found. (PHOTO SUPPLIED)

"They have both been found not guilty as a result of the steps that the justice system has taken," Bentley said.

James Lockyer, a lawyer representing the men, 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.

"This attorney general is completely indifferent to the wrongly convicted and what they go through," Lockyer said.

Baltovich was wrongly convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, in June 1990, a crime for which he served eight years behind bars, while Hanemaayer was wrongly convicted of a 1987 knifepoint sexual assault committed by serial killer Paul Bernardo. Both were acquitted in 2008.

By contrast, the province paid $6.45 million in compensation last year to Steven Truscott, who was convicted and sentenced to hang at 14 for the murder of his classmate, Lynne Harper, in 1959.

Speaking with reporters, Bentley described Truscott's case as an "extremely unusual, once-in-a-lifetime situation."

To be deserving of compensation, a criminal defendant requires more than an acquittal and something closer to a finding of "factual innocence," he suggested.

But even in Truscott's case the Ontario Court of Appeal didn't go that far. In acquitting him in 2007, the court said making a declaration of factual innocence is "a most daunting task" in cases that do not involve DNA evidence.

In fact, there have been at least a half dozen cases across Canada in which provincial governments have compensated people who were exonerated through other means.

Among them was Richard Norris, who was wrongly convicted of a sexual assault in Fergus, Ont., in 1979 and acquitted in 1991 when his best friend confessed to the crime.

Ontario awarded Norris $502,000 in compensation.

Guy Paul Morin, wrongly convicted of murdering his next-door neighbour, Christine Jessop, and exonerated through DNA evidence in 1995, received $1.25 million.

In most cases, compensation came after the government had been hit with a civil lawsuit. This time Lockyer tried to "bypass" that process by simply asking Bentley to compensate the two men.

"Although there's no doubt that people like Morin and Truscott and others are properly deserving of compensation, the sad fact is that other persons whose cases do not generate the same kind of political heat for the government are not able to be treated so fortunately," said Louis Sokolov, a Toronto lawyer who has filed civil lawsuits on behalf of the wrongly convicted.

An independent commission should be assessing compensation requests, he said.

Defending his decision, Bentley noted Hanemaayer pleaded guilty.

But there are many reasons an innocent person might do so, said University of Western Ontario law professor Chris Sherrin. In Hanemaayer's case, the Crown's eyewitness identification, while clearly wrong, seemed overpowering and he was afraid he was heading to prison for six years.

When offered two years less a day in jail in exchange for a guilty plea, he took the deal.

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

"Their lives were completely wrecked by what happened to them, the amount of time they spent in jail," said Lockyer, who is 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.
With files from The Canadian Press

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Anger as Baltovich gets nothing | The Star

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The Ontario government's refusal to provide financial redress to two wrongly convicted men shows the compensation system is arbitrary and unfair, legal experts say. Attorney General Chris Bentley said Wednesday it was "not appropriate" to compensate Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer for their pain and suffering.