RCMP Watch

Danel McHardie, Fredericton, N.B. (Telegraph-Journal) - Almost 33 years after being convicted of murder, Erin Michael Walsh will finally get a chance to clear his name after the federal and provincial ministers of justice agreed Friday that he is likely a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

This is the first time in New Brunswick’s history that the federal government has ordered a murder conviction to be reviewed and if the Court of Appeal sides with Walsh, he will have served more time than any previous victim of a wrongful conviction.

Only two hours after federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ordered the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to review Walsh’s 1975 murder conviction, Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau set a hearing date for March 14. At that time Walsh’s lawyers will argue for an outright acquittal while the province will seek a stay of proceedings, meaning there will not be a retrial.

Walsh, who now lives in Kingston, Ont., appeared in court in a wheelchair and watched as his lawyers fought for an expedited hearing. He is in the final stages of terminal colon cancer.

The 59-year-old, who has spent more than 25 years in jail because of parole revocations, said the wrongful conviction has caused him and his family “sheer hell,” and his final wish is to be vindicated.

“I am an innocent man and I have always been an innocent man of these charges,” Walsh said at a news conference. “I feel that there can be no conclusion except that the slate be wiped completely clean in my case and my innocence be established for all.”

Walsh was found guilty in the shooting death of Melvin Eugene (Chi Chi) Peters. His 1982 appeal was dismissed. Driven by his desire to clear his name, Walsh continued to lobby for more information and in 2005 received his entire file from the Provincial Archives, which included conversations overheard by a Saint John police officer between two other men arrested at the scene.

James Lockyer, a lawyer with the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted, said if the evidence had been presented at trial, Walsh would have walked free.

“If the evidence had been made available to the defence they likely wouldn’t have proceeded with the case in the first place, especially when you consider further evidence that establishes how Mr. Walsh was the one being held at gun point.

“A whole group of independent witnesses, whose existence wasn’t disclosed, we now know provided statements to the police that supported everything that Erin was saying at his own trial,” Lockyer said.

At his trial, the jury took only one hour to convict Walsh.

Lockyer would not say whether he believed the prosecution deliberately covered up the evidence. The prosecutor at the time was William McCarroll, who is now a provincial court judge.

David Young, McCarroll’s lawyer, said his client was not prepared to comment on Friday’s development.

The federal justice minister has the authority to review convictions and routinely has about 20 requests to consider each year. A justice department official said 14 reviews have been granted since 2002.

Nicholson said he was satisfied that a “miscarriage of justice likely occurred” after receiving a special investigation report into the Walsh case and reviewing submissions from New Brunswick’s Office of the Attorney General and Bernard Grenier, the federal justice minister’s special advisor on the criminal conviction review process.

Justice Minister T.J. Burke issued a statement that his department does not agree with all of the findings in Nicholson’s investigative report, but he did not dispute the conclusion.

“However, it is agreed that the federal minister of justice could have a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred and that it is appropriate to exercise the extraordinary power under Section 696.3 of the Criminal Code,” Burke said.

Walsh’s lawyers commended both the federal and provincial ministers of justice for moving quickly to have the case reviewed and sent back to the Court of Appeal. However, none of the three lawyers representing Walsh would address the $50 million in damages he is seeking in a civil suit aimed at McCarroll, the City of Saint John, all police chiefs since 1975, the province of New Brunswick and the RCMP for what he has described as a deliberate attempt to suppress evidence.

Accompanying Walsh throughout the court proceedings and the news conference, his wife Angela expressed her relief at the nearing conclusion to the long legal battle.

“It has been a hard road I’d say. I feel really relieved that it is finally coming to an end,” she said.

The couple have five children, and also grandchildren, and want them to know Walsh is not a murderer.

“Not just for my sake but also for my family’s sake,” he said. “In society, people convicted of murder are the most dreaded. I don’t think anyone would want to go through life wearing that mantle, especially when it is not justified. More than anything, I want that corrected.”