The Court of Appeal Acquited Steven Truscott of the Rape-Murder of Lynne Harper and declared it a Miscarriage of Justice, but said it is not in legal position to declare him Innocent...The Panel was Unanimous in its decision handed shortly before 11:00 and the Crown has already announced that it is not planning to appeal the decision and accept the CA decision as the final test of the evidence presented by Mr. Truscott Team...
Analysis of the court decision is still been going on and details of the decision not yet available...for the breaking news...
http://www.torontosun.com/News/2007/08/28/4452385.html
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/250586
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TORONTO (CP) — Steven Truscott is no longer a convicted murderer.
His 48-year fight to clear his name ended Tuesday as Ontario’s highest court acquitted him of the 1959 rape and murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper.
In a unanimous decision, five justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal say new evidence satisfies them that Truscott’s conviction constituted a “miscarriage of justice.”
However, the court says it’s not in a position to declare Truscott innocent of the crime.
Truscott, who was 14 at the time, became the youngest Canadian to be sentenced to hang. He spent 10 years in prison before he was released on parole in 1969 after which he married and raised a family in Guelph under an assumed surname.
Steven Truscott as seen in 2001
Steven Truscott at 14
Lynne Harper at 12
The year was l959. A 14 years old Steven Truscott was convicted by an all-male jury for Rape-Murder of his 12 years old classmate Lynne Harper. Three days after the reported disappearance of Lynne Harper, her body was found, Steven Truscott was arrested, charged for her murder and after two weeks of trial was sentenced to hang, the youngest ever on death row. He spent four months under the shadow of the rope, until his sentence was commuted to life and was paroled in l969.
He re-surfaced in 2001 to clear his name and tomorrow the Court of Appeal of Ontario will bring down the ruling to upheld the conviction or overturned it.
For the summary of the case please check this link...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/truscott/
And for the women who fought for the cause at the time when women were just relegated as the back passengers of the Justice System and a noted crusader Isabel LeBourdais, whose only concern at that time not to see a child get hanged, and a stay at home housewife whose book titled the Trial of Steven Truscott didn’t see print in this country, but later was published in England and was instrumental in the review of the case and the abolition of Capital Punishment.
The very first woman to ever said the word “Penis” in National T.V. during her interview with the CBC program This Hour has Seven Days contending that the evidence presented by the Prosecutor during the Trial that the Lesion on Steven’s Penis was caused by raping a Virgin, may had been caused by dermatological condition, which was later confirmed.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/250130
Tomorrow will be the Day if Steven Truscott and the Whole Country will find out if his fight for his innocence for 5 decades and the fight for Justice for the Wrongly Convicted by these women (Isabel LeBourdais passed away in 2003) will be one of their successes.
