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'Get behind these people'
Milgaard urges gov'ts to compensate those people wrongly convicted

Betty Ann Adam
The StarPhoenix

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

David Milgaard used his national celebrity Monday to draw attention to the ongoing cases of two other wrongfully-convicted Canadians who remain uncompensated for emotional and financial hardships caused by failures of the justice system.

Milgaard, whose 23-year wrongful imprisonment is the subject of an ongoing judicial inquiry in Saskatoon, downplayed questions about himself, pointing instead to the needs of Michel Dumont and Ronald Dalton.

Milgaard called on Prime Minister Paul Martin, the premiers of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the federal and provincial justice ministers to resolve those cases immediately.

"What I need from the public today is the same thing my mother and my family got in relation to our struggle for compensation . . . and that's to get behind these people," Milgaard said. "These are people who are wrongfully convicted and they've been fighting for compensation for years."

Milgaard said he doesn't like coming to Saskatoon but he couldn't ignore the situations of others who are going through the same thing he went through after he was released in 1992.

"These people are still fighting. I said I can't let these people walk by me and not do something about it," he said.

"I don't like to be here. I like to put my life, this horrible thing about Saskatoon, behind me. I like to live my own life privately and that's why I'm not at the inquiry. I hope they find out all the important things they need to find out, and I hope they can find out who's responsible to make it possible to be convicted and held in prison through all the years that I was. That's important, but the important thing today is not the inquiry, it's the same situation that we're dealing with and we'll continue to deal with until someone does something about it."

Milgaard has said he doesn't want to testify at the inquiry. When asked what he thinks of the possibility of being subpoenaed to attend, he said: "I'm sure that if that happens this court will look so bad. . . . If they want to look that bad, that's up to them."

Commission lawyer Doug Hodson has said he considers Milgaard a necessary witness but Milgaard's lawyer, Hersh Wolch, has said there's nothing more Milgaard can add to the commission's understanding beyond the statements he has given over the years, which will come out through documents at the inquiry.

Freedom has helped improve Milgaard's mental health and he would like to put the past behind him, he said.

"I've got myself a lot better than I was when I was out in 1992 and the reason for avoiding this review, (avoiding) spending a year back inside a situation that just really tore me apart, was made in that framework of thinking," he said.

Receiving compensation sends an important message to the public about individuals who have been unjustly painted by conviction, he said.

"I grew up inside prison. I grew up outside of prison fighting for compensation," he said. "I grew up in a situation where at first I felt everybody believed me and then I found out everybody did not believe me because the government basically just pushed things underneath the carpet."

Whenever Milgaard gets together with people who have been wrongfully convicted, he becomes angry at people he doesn't know, who were involved in those injustices.

"It's probably just anger at the system and people I can't reach out and touch," he said.

"I do not plan to make this my future by standing up for wrongful convictions. I have my life to live and I like enjoying my private life," he said.

Asked what difference compensation made in his life, Milgaard said; "It's kind of nice to go to a bank machine all the time and you find money there. That's all I can say about that," he said with a little laugh.

Milgaard hopes the inquiry into his case results in the creation of an independent board to examine claims of wrongful conviction.

Milgaard said he doesn't love or hate the police who investigated the crime he was convicted of, but he thinks they would want to acknowledge their mistakes.

"If they're really feeling concern for the way I was treated, why not realize that they're men who have made a mistake," he said.

Dalton, who was present at the news conference, said it may be time to stop holding inquiries into wrongful convictions and start using the money to fund the independent review board.

Dalton was convicted in 1989 of murdering his wife. It took the Newfoundland Court of Appeal until 1998 to overturn his conviction and order a new trial. He was acquitted in 2000.

Dumont, who was represented Monday by his wife Solange, was convicted of rape in 1991. As he awaited appeal the victim raised questions about his identity as the assailant but the

#9-Lakeza Finley of Roanoke City, Keisha Williams of SW Roanoke County, Rita Dalton of Bedford, Nicole Oldson of Roanoke City, Jamie Gheen of SW Roanoke County, Melinda Arrington of Franklin County, and Stephanie Pierce of SW Roanoke County, of Skyline College (L-R)

Photo by: Jordan Poole