Steven Truscott almost innocent

Steven Truscott was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeals in a 5 judge unanimous decision on August 28, 2007.

It takes a very large stretch of my imagination to try and empathize with what it would be like to live your entire life as a convicted murderer - when you knew you were innocent. I can't imagine what it would be like to live the vast majority of your life under an assumed name, your identity taken from you by the court of public opinion.

I cannot imagine the strength and faith it would take to forgive the wrongs done and accept the course of fate. Mr. Truscott sounded humble and grateful for the verdict handed down yesterday; a lesser person could have easily been bitter.

Fascinating legal aspect, for me anyway, is that he was not found innocent, only not guilty. The Court of Appeals did not make the final step to a full exoneration. There was a discussion about this on CBC Metro Morning Tuesday morning before the verdict was read. Here is an in-depth article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/truscott/

Congratulations to the Truscott family, to all of his supporters who lobbied so vigourously for his appeal and to the lawyers from the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted who took the case back to the courts.

It is an ambivalent day for justice, a great defense for the abolition of the death penalty and a serious indictment of Canada's justice system. To paraphrase one CBC listener, while it is good to see this miscarriage of justice rectified there remain two crimes unsolved: one, the tragic murder of 13 year-old Lynne Harper and two, the tragic theft of Mr. Truscott's freedom and innocent potential.

More reasons to become a lawyer. While I have problems imagining a world where the system of law is practiced in a just and humane manner I will keep working for it.