(Winnipeg) A Manitoba man who was convicted of murder 50 years ago was acquitted Thursday.
Clarence Woodhouse was convicted in 1974 of beating and stabbing to death a restaurant employee in downtown Winnipeg. He was released on parole in 1983 and last year filed an application for a ministerial review of his conviction.
His lawyers argued that Mr. Woodhouse allegedly made confessions in English at the time, even though his primary language is Saulteaux, an Ojibwe dialect.
The federal Minister of Justice ordered a new trial last July and the Crown admitted Thursday in Winnipeg court that it was indeed a miscarriage of justice.
Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal ruled Thursday that systemic discrimination affected the police investigation and the decision to lay charges.
Two other men convicted of the murder, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, also had their convictions overturned last year after a new trial was ordered and the Crown requested their acquittal.
Brian Anderson served almost 11 years in prison and was released on full parole in 1987. Allan Woodhouse served 23 years in prison.
A fourth man convicted in the case, Russell Woodhouse, died in 2011.
James Lockyer, lawyer and director of Innocence Canada, has previously said there should be a review of homicide convictions involving Indigenous people over the past five decades in Manitoba.
Jerome Kennedy, another lawyer for the agency, said outside court Thursday that Innocence Canada is also working on cases involving Indigenous people in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, which are moving toward a request for review by the Federal Minister of Justice.
Me Kennedy would like to see a national initiative to address wrongful convictions. “There appears to be a deeper systemic problem that requires a targeted approach,” Ms.e Kennedy.