My Name is Steven Murray Truscott by Maryam Syeda https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory This is My Story en-us 2017-04-23 19:11:22 UTC 2026-03-08 00:05:05 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Balance.png I became the symbol of stolen justice at the young age of fouteen. msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167713909 2017-04-23 22:16:17 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167713909 I Know Why You Are Here msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714333 I know why you are here. You want to know who I am and what I did. But I can tell you that the real story lies behind what I have gone through. Believe me, spending my teenage and early adult life in prison has changed my personality. After my wasted years, I don’t think I will believe in the justice system ever again. There is no justice in this world, and even still, I don’t blame Lynne Harper for anything that happened to me. Poor girl, this case has become an injustice to the memory of her murder and tragic death. Why? Because the real culprit was never caught. He is still out there – living his life on Earth or below it. Sometimes I wonder what law and order protect us from anyway. It couldn’t protect me from loosing my innocence at a vulnerable age. It couldn’t carry justice to a twelve-year-old girl. What were they thinking? Placing a fourteen-year-old boy behind bars. I was known as the youngest death-row inmate when I was initially sentenced to death. But instead, those scammers changed the sentence to a life in prison instead. They probably believed I didn’t deserve an easy way out. Here me out now, this is my chance to recite my story, exactly the way it took place, starting way back in 1959. 

]]> 2017-04-23 22:26:40 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714333 A Sweet Medley Referencing My Case msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714436 A Canadian rock band named Blue Rodeo recorded a song, "Truscott", for their album: The Days in Between. ]]> 2017-04-23 22:29:03 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714436 Rest in Peace: Lynne Harper msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714961 2017-04-23 22:41:52 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167714961 Here I was, a fourteen-year-old boy - sentenced for a crime I did not commit. msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715106 2017-04-23 22:43:18 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715106 I Was a Proud Young Boy... msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715279 2017-04-23 22:45:37 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715279 ...but the justice system changed my life forever msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715321 2017-04-23 22:46:30 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715321 June 9, 1959 - When It All Began msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715434 Lynne Harper (12 years old at the time) went for a walk and then disappeared from the air force base near Clinton, Ontario. Harper's parents and officer became worried after she had not returned home for some time. 

A complete search was conducted for Lynne Harper - but no one found her. They thought she might have been lost in the countryside where there is nothing by bush in the surroundings. After much search - there was no clue of where she might be.]]> 2017-04-23 22:49:38 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715434 June 11, 1959 - The Point Where I Got Involved msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715615 Two days of searching resulted in a very tragic discovery. Harper's body was found on a farm close to the location she was last seen. A post mortem revealed that she had been raped and strangled to death. I was last seen with Lynne because I had offered her a bike ride. She was my classmate and all I did was help her out. ]]> 2017-04-23 22:54:16 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715615 Young Kid Acting Out In Memory of My Case msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715982 2017-04-23 23:01:48 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167715982 June 12, 1959 - My Wrong Arrest msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716088 I was interrogated by community officers and I told them the truth. I was with Lynne, but she went her way and I went mine. However, I did see her climbing into an unknown car. 
The pressure of the community, forced the officers to arrest me and officially charge me with murder the next day. I never lied or gave into the charges - I kept my innocence true and just. ]]> 2017-04-23 23:03:56 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716088 My Official Mugshots msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716350 2017-04-23 23:09:13 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716350 December 8, 1959 - I Was Sentenced to Death By Hanging msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716518 Even though my lawyer prepared for months, the jury elected for my case found me guilty of the murder. No one considered how young I was when they sentenced me to death by hanging. My court case took place for a duration of only fifteen days. ]]> 2017-04-23 23:12:14 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716518 The Tension to Find the "Slayer" Was Rising msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716609 2017-04-23 23:13:45 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716609 January 22, 1960 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716864 A lot of controversy took place regarding my serious sentence. In the end, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (who was a part of the Conservative government at the time), changed the sentence to a life in prison. 
The four months I had spent in the death penalty row were probably the most nightmarish months of my life. Little did I know that there was more to come my way.

]]> 2017-04-23 23:17:57 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716864 Justice Was Blind In My Case msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716922 2017-04-23 23:19:10 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167716922 Injustice msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717024 2017-04-23 23:20:37 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717024 I Did Not Deserve To Be There msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717470 2017-04-23 23:27:57 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717470 Those 4 Months Were Living Nightmares msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717624 2017-04-23 23:30:17 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717624 1966 - A Book Dedicated to My Trial msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717824 I was forgotten! Forgotten by every newspaper headline! Thankfully, a journalist named Isabel LeBourdais brought some light to my story and questioned the case as well as the outcome. She published a book called: “The Trial of Steven Truscott”. It was the first piece of documentation that stood in my favor. The book provoked the Supreme Court to re-asses my case and open it once more. Even after contemplating my future, the group of justices (on a vote of 8-1) did not agree to give me a new trial. ]]> 2017-04-23 23:33:13 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167717824 Isabel Lebourdais msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718232 2017-04-23 23:39:16 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718232 1969 - A New Life? msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718331 By now, I had spent ten years of my precious life in prison. However, I was released despite my life sentence. Officials encouraged me to take on a new identity and move to a place in Canada where no one would recognize me. 

They asked me to give up the last thing I had left - my identity. After being stripped of all my values and self respect - it was a tragedy giving that up too. I settled in Guelph and happily married. My three children and wife, lived together in secrecy for the next twenty years. 

They thought that they had done me a favor by letting me out. Did they not recognize the enduring presence of guilt in my mind. I had always gone by the truth - I did not commit the crime!]]> 2017-04-23 23:41:00 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718331 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718909 2017-04-23 23:50:01 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718909 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718938 2017-04-23 23:50:37 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718938 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718972 2017-04-23 23:51:06 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167718972 1997 - My DNA Testing msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167719178 I agreed to the same type of DNA testing that 
September: Truscott agrees to the same type of DNA testing that liberated Guy Paul Morin and David Milgaard of their murder cases. But all of vital evidence that could have helped my case had been destroyed. Prominent attorney James Lockyer agreed to fight for my case. He was also the defense for Guy Paul Morin and cleared him of the wrongful conviction for the death of Christine Jessop in Queensville, Ont. in 1984.

]]> 2017-04-23 23:54:22 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167719178 The Dead Ends When My Case Reopened msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167722872 My lawyers notified the attorney general’s ministry that I wanted my case to be reopened. All the evidence that might have been suitable for testing, however, had been destroyed. I decided instead to apply to the federal justice minister to have my case reviewed under Section 696.1 of the Criminal Code.

 

]]> 2017-04-24 00:48:18 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167722872 The Fifth Estate: A Tribute to My Case msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723110 2017-04-24 00:51:45 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723110 August 28, 2007 - The Most Important Day of My Life msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723205 On this date – 48 years after my first trial – the Ontario Court of Appeal consistently reversed my conviction, announcing the case “a miscarriage of justice” that “must be quashed”.
 
 The Ontario Government awarded me $6.5 million in compensation for my suffering. 

Now I live in Guelph with my wife, Marlene, to whom I have been married with for over four decades. She was active in the legal effort to bring about my acquittal.]]> 2017-04-24 00:53:00 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723205 How They Allowed The Miscarriage of Justice msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723351 An investigation done by Fifth Estate, highlighted grave glitches with the forensic evidence and disclosed that police were too quick in laying charges, overlooking vital testimony of certain key witnesses and not permitting for the option of other potential suspects.]]> 2017-04-24 00:55:29 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723351 The Hasty Decision Making That Affected The Rest of My Life msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723459 During an autopsy at a Clinton funeral home, Dr. John Penistan, the regional pathologist, made the most critical finding in my case. He claimed that by examining Lynne’s stomach contents — placing them in a jar and holding them up to a light bulb — he could tell that she died within two hours of eating dinner, pinpointing her time of death at between 7 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. on June 9, 1959.

This piece of evidence was devastating for me, because I recognized being with her at that time. At the 1959 trial, the Crown attorney told jurors that the evidence confirmed my crime.

But additional professionals voiced doubts at the time about the capability to use stomach contents to determine a person’s time of death and the methodology has been condemned.

During hearings in the case, the Ontario Court of Appeal was told that for nearly 40 years, that the evidence was enough to charge me. However, the federal government had notes and memos deep in its files pointing out that much of Penistan’s evidence was founded on “entirely and absolutely wrong” medical and scientific inferences.
]]> 2017-04-24 00:57:15 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723459 My Name Was All I Had Left msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723625 2017-04-24 00:59:22 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723625 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723772 2017-04-24 01:01:33 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723772 Some Things I Can Never Forget msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723854 2017-04-24 01:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167723854 A Question Still Remains...If I Didn't Kill Lynne Harper - WHO DID? msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167724063 Sgt. Alexander Kalichuk could have been a prime suspect at the time and he also fit the description of the crime. When a police detective contacted him, he felt that Kalichuk was capable of the rape and murder of a child. 

In the 1980s, Kalichuk pleaded guilty to several sexual assaults and possession of child pornography. In fact, during a search of Kalichuk's house, police discovered a full volume of Truscott's court hearings before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1966 - 1967. 

The following information baffled me because their is no reason as to why they had to over look Kalichuk with the murder of Lynne Harper. 

Kalichuk was previous alcohols and psychiatric patient. People knew him as a man who had very strong sexual desires towards very young children. Kalichuk had attempted to kidnap and pick up a ten-year old girl just two weeks before Harper's disappearance. The method of kidnapping matched that of Harper's. He also fit the description of the man who had been spotted trying to pick up children in other rural areas. ]]> 2017-04-24 01:06:04 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167724063 Free At Last msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167724947 2017-04-24 01:17:51 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167724947 My Wife & I Rejoicing msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725026 2017-04-24 01:19:09 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725026 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725265 2017-04-24 01:21:12 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725265 msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725393 2017-04-24 01:22:53 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725393 She has always been with me... msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725507 2017-04-24 01:24:38 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725507 I suppose the media was as excited as I was... msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725510 2017-04-24 01:24:39 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167725510 You Know My Story - What Is Yours? msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167995438 The justice system is not perfect and it makes mistakes. We are humans deciding on other human's lives. I was played with - without a doubt. But, I want you to take away the lessons from my life and ensure that you do not become the victim of the miscarriage of justice. Learn to speak out for yourself and die trying if you have to. ]]> 2017-04-25 01:55:05 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167995438 Hope - You Have To Believe In It msyeda100 https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167995812 2017-04-25 01:59:52 UTC https://padlet.com/msyeda100/steventruscottstory/wish/167995812