Bob Mitchell, Eat Your Words!

Joyce Milgaard is still testifying at the inquiry. She has been talking about how she felt following the Supreme Court of Canada's decision about her son.

Essentially, the court said in 1992 that to continue to incarcerate David may constitute a miscarriage of justice, thus, he should be released from prison, which is what the ruling accomplished. The justices said that there was new evidence that may have forced the jury to have drawn a different conclusion had they heard it at that time; however, the court was dubious about Milgaard's innocence.

Then Justice Minister, Bob Mitchell, apparently told the press that he thought that David Milgaard was guilty and that there would be no compensation or inquiry into his case. I'm sure that he regrets those words to this very day!

As we can see from the unfolding of the Milgaard investigation, from day one errors were made, starting with the police, moving on to the prosecution, defense and retrial, and culminating with the terrible and disappointing decision of the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court left David in a state of legal limbo with nowhere to go. It took five long years for him to be exonerated by DNA. Shameful.

Sigrid Mac