Joyce Milgaard Testifies at the Inquiry

Yesterday, Joyce Milgaard began her lengthy testimony at the inquiry. She described the history of her family's battle to get her son David out of prison, starting with the fact that David was a child with a "wild streak"; however, he had sorted his life out at age 16 and was selling magazine subscriptions for Maclean's, having abandoned the hippie lifestyle, when he was arrested and charged with the murder of Gail Miller.

At first, Joyce Milgaard stated, the family had faith in the justice system. They knew that an error had been made and were convinced that they would rectify the mistake. When this failed to happen, David became restless and depressed. He escaped from prison twice -- once when he was on a day pass from Stony Mountain in 1980, he stayed out in the community for 77 days. He was caught and shot in the back by police officers.

Sitting by his hospital bed, Joyce Milgaard realized that she would have to take over. She could no longer rely on the justice system and David's escape had considerably decreased his chances of ever getting parole.

At that point, Joyce offered a $10,000 award for anyone having information about David's case. She enlisted the help of the media and private investigators and began to interview witnesses herself with a small group of Milgaard supporters. If she had not done this, is possible, if not probable that David would still be behind bars.

Joyce will be testifying all week.

Sigrid Mac