Milgaard Inquiry

Those who know me understand that I would rather fly a plane into Baghdad than to get involved in the middle of the ugly false memory debate. I worked in this field for several years in the nineties and found it to be more explosive than any other issue that I have ever seen. Truly, I would prefer to stand outside of an abortion clinic and have people pelt me with stones than to delve into this murky, heated, and controversial area. But Nichol John's recent testimony necessitates a discussion of this topic.

Betty Ann Adam from The Star Phoenix reports that "Nichol John's mother told RCMP in 1993 that David Milgaard had choked Nichol with her jacket hood the morning of Gail Miller's murder and that their travelling companion, Ron Wilson, had slapped her face and told her to be quiet when John screamed, "He killed her. He killed her."

Nichol doesn't remember David choking her or telling her mother this story. Nichol does remember some new details about the event that occurred 35 long years ago and she maintains the idea that she saw the murder. She didn't say that she saw David murder anyone but she believes that she saw the murder itself because she has holes in her memory. Now, we all know that Nicole could not have seen David murder Gail since the DNA evidence proved that David did not kill Gail. Nichol could not have seen Larry Fisher kill Gail Miller because Nicole was with Ron and David in a car stuck in an alley. What Nicole may have seen is some very bad psychiatrists over the years!

It is always suspicious when someone claims not to have remembered anything whatsoever, or worse when they can remember all kinds of brand-new information 3 1/2 decades later. That sounds like Nichol has been rehearsing this story over and over -- rehashing it, analyzing it, "remembering" the incident under hypnotherapy, a notoriously unreliable means to access memory.

There were many victims that bitterly cold day Larry Fisher took Gail Miller's life. We can start with Gail Miller and her family; my heart goes out to them. Every time the Milgaards try to get justice, the Millers must suffer through this death again. The next obvious victim was David and now it has become apparent that Nichol John has never been right since the tragedy. She was abused by the police, coerced into making false statements against her friend, and has been reliving that sorrowful day ever since. She is confused about what happened and what she saw. How very sad.

Nicole John will return to the Inquiry on Monday. For her sake, let's hope that the rest of the interrogation is brief.