Milgaard's former prosecutor admits failure to disclose info
On Wednesday, October 5, Milgaard's former prosecutor, Bobs Caldwell, admitted that he did not provide full disclosure to Milgaard's lawyer, Calvin Tallis. According to Betty Ann Adam of the Star Phoenix, Caldwell was aware of four episodes of sexual assault that occurred in Saskatoon; one happened within minutes of Gail Miller's murder and another groping episode was directed at a nurse. (Gail Miller was a nursing student.)
Caldwell's explanation for his failure to come forth with this information was that he did not think that it was pertinent. Moreover, he admitted that he may have been influenced by police notes on the report, which stated that the "indecent assaults" were "not related" to Miller's murder. This reinforces Mel Green's theory that Crown attorneys place far too much faith in the police.
Sigrid Mac
Caldwell's explanation for his failure to come forth with this information was that he did not think that it was pertinent. Moreover, he admitted that he may have been influenced by police notes on the report, which stated that the "indecent assaults" were "not related" to Miller's murder. This reinforces Mel Green's theory that Crown attorneys place far too much faith in the police.
Sigrid Mac
posted by Sigrid Macdonald @ 6:31 PM
2 Comments:
At 8:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Sigrid
According to this , the
former prosecutor should
never have gone forward
with the case. They had
the wrong person.
At 3:11 PM,
Sigrid Macdonald said…
Hi Anon,
Yes, clearly the prosecutor should have disclosed that information but he did not see its relevance to the Miller case. And he foolishly trusted the police and didn't realize that they had coerced the kids into making false confessions.
In retrospect, we can see that Milgaard was the wrong person. But at the time there was compelling evidence against him, including placing him close to the scene of the crime and eye witness testimonies that said that he had blood on his clothes, and was carrying a paring knife.
Because there was no DNA back in those days, even if Caldwell had fully disclosed, the Milgaard case probably would and should have proceeded to trial based on the statements of David's friends.
Sad.
Sigrid
Post a Comment
<< Home