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| Wrongly convicted fight for compensation |
| By The Globe and Mail |
| Published: 07/11/2005 |
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As his convictions for kidnapping and sexual assault began to crumble in 1994, Michel Dumont was visited in his prison cell by a biker who apologized for repeatedly beating Mr. Dumont during his four years in jail. "I'm still waiting for the Quebec government to apologize," said Mr. Dumont, sitting in the lunchroom of a Montreal hospital where he works as an electrician. Having repeatedly been denied financial compensation for his 42 months in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Mr. Dumont's plight highlights a growing problem for the wrongly convicted. A federal-provincial program set up in 1988 to provide compensation in worthy cases has turned out to be a frustrating flop. Most of the wrongly convicted end up resorting to costly lawsuits in hopes of forcing authorities into an out-of-court settlement. The roadblock for those seeking compensation is a slippery, ill-defined requirement known as "factual innocence," which needs to be satisfied before an individual can be compensated. However, doing so is nearly impossible unless an individual has DNA on his side, said Winnipeg lawyer Hersh Wolch, an expert on the compensation issue. In cases such as that of Mr. Dumont, he said, DNA is not part of the evidence. James Lockyer, a lawyer for the wrongly convicted, said that even outright acquittals are not enough to prove factual innocence, since technically speaking, an acquittal means only that the Crown could not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. "Governments are not so much trying to save dollars as they are unwilling to admit they were wrong," he said. Only one Quebecker -- Réjean Pepin, a man who was wrongly convicted of armed robbery -- has been compensated during the 18 years the federal-provincial plan has existed. He received $188,000. Mr. Wolch said there needs to be a third alternative in between the extreme of "begging and whining for mercy" and having to prove in court that police or prosecutors acted maliciously. In an $8.7-million lawsuit he has launched against the Quebec government and the town of Boisbriand, Mr. Dumont cites his loss of freedom, the physical abuse he suffered, and the fact his three children were put in foster care while he was in prison. Carlo Tarini, a public relations consultant who is acting on Mr. Dumont's behalf, said the federal government may ultimately agree to compensation in his case, but only if Quebec does so first. |
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