HALIFAX — A federal Justice Department report that led to the release of a Halifax man wrongfully convicted of murder is expected today.
Lawyers for 63-year-old Glen Assoun say the release of hundreds of pages of documents means the public is going to learn information never put before juries and judges.
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge agreed to release the report after a case launched by The Canadian Press, CBC and the Halifax Examiner.
Assoun was wrongfully convicted of slitting Brenda Way’s throat on Nov. 12, 1995 — sending to him to a federal prison where he’d suffer beatings, heart attacks and depression for a crime he’s now exonerated of.
The federal assessment of the case, prepared by the criminal conviction review group, became the basis for Justice Minister David Lametti declaring a miscarriage of justice had occurred in the 1999 jury trial.
Lametti took the unusual step of noting that “reliable and relevant evidence” was never disclosed in Assoun’s criminal proceedings.
Justice James Chipman declared Assoun innocent on March 1 after the Nova Scotia Crown dropped its case.
Assoun’s lawyers, Phil Campbell and Sean MacDonald, have requested that Chipman black out the names of three informants who provided evidence to Innocence Canada, on the basis that their safety might be at risk.
The Canadian Press
