Albert Cadrain

Albert Cadrain was a friend of David's who testified against him at his trial. Albert said that he saw David with blood on his clothes. But what jurors didn't know was that the now deceased Albert took $2000 as a reward for giving that information. More importantly, he was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized. Add to that the fact that David's friends were doing drugs at the time (Hey, it was the 60s!) and that they were being coerced by the police to implicate David as the killer, and the result was extremely flawed testimony.

It's hard to believe that anyone took Albert Cadrain's comments seriously during the trial. His comments were inconsistent, contradictory and bizarre. No one who talks about the Virgin Mary has much credibility unless it's the Pope.

I don't blame Albert at all; I see him as a victim. But why wasn't Albert's mental state brought up during David's appeal? It is entirely possible that David's conviction could have been reversed based on the knowledge that Albert Cadrain had been hospitalized for a nervous breakdown shortly after testifying against his friend.

One interesting yet horrifying fact is that the justice system did not simply make one error in the Milgaard case. It made dozens and dozens, and at every corner, if one individual had done something differently, it could have resulted in years of freedom for David Milgaard.

To read about Albert Cadrain in more detail, check out the article on the CBC web site at http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=milgaard05020

Sigrid Macdonald