Montreal law students convince federal justice minister to review two convictions

Over nan past year, a Quebec non-profit that advocates for nan wrongfully convicted has convinced nan national justness curate to return a 2nd look astatine 2 cases successful which group person been declared guilty.

Project Innocence Quebec says its activity led Justice Minister Arif Virani successful April to bid a caller proceedings successful nan lawsuit of Claude Paquin, a Quebec man convicted successful 1983 connected 2 counts of first-degree murder. And successful October, nan statement was capable to person nan lawsuit of M.R., an individual convicted of activity battle against a insignificant successful 2002, returned to nan Quebec Court of Appeal for a caller hearing.

Nicholas Saint-Jacques, vice-president of Innocence Quebec and a teacher astatine nan section of judicial sciences astatine Université du Québec à Montréal, said it’s nary elemental matter to person a lawsuit returned to tribunal aft a verdict has been issued.

“We are talking astir 1 aliases 2 cases a twelvemonth successful Canada for which nan curate of justness will assistance a corrective action,” Saint-Jacques said.

“For america to win successful a lawsuit of this quality is so a very large victory.”

Paquin’s lawsuit dates backmost to events from 1978. He was convicted of execution successful 1983 and mislaid his entreaty successful 1987. One twelvemonth later, nan Supreme Court of Canada refused to assistance a petition for time off to appeal.

Now connected afloat parole, Paquin sought a criminal condemnation reappraisal successful January 2020. Project Innocence Quebec has been moving connected Paquin’s record since that year.

On April 29, Virani’s agency said successful a connection that nan curate “has wished that location are reasonable grounds to reason that a miscarriage of justness apt occurred” successful Paquin’s case. “This determination is simply a consequence of nan recognition of caller and important accusation that was not submitted to nan courts astatine nan clip of Mr. Paquin’s proceedings aliases appeal, calling into mobility nan wide fairness of nan process.”

Saint-Jacques said that gathering lawsuit details, search down witnesses and rebuilding nan record tin return respective years.

“Just putting nan record together, putting nan puzzle together again, it’s very analyzable because location are documents that are lost, documents that are recovered and location are respective lawyers who handled nan case,” he explained.

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In Paquin’s case, 40 years person passed and galore witnesses are nary longer alive. “The grounds was based connected nan grounds of an informant. So, if that informant nary longer co-operates pinch nan state, it will beryllium rather difficult to proceed pinch a trial,” Saint-Jacques said.

Project Innocence Quebec is an inaugural of Lida Sara Nouraie, who began nan effort successful 2002 arsenic a student. She was named arsenic a judge to nan Quebec tribunal past November, putting an extremity to her accusation pinch nan group.

Since 2006, Innocence Quebec has been portion of a people astatine UQAM, wherever students activity connected existent cases involving judicial errors, while being supervised by a lawyer.

Working connected imaginable wrongful convictions is simply a tremendous learning opportunity, Saint-Jacques said.

“It makes them alert of criminal rule and besides of doing one’s occupation good arsenic a lawyer because they are early lawyers who will yet practise and they tin spot errors that person been committed by lawyers, by judges, by constabulary officers arsenic well,” he said.