The Wrongful Conviction of Steven Truscott

In the case of Steven Truscott, I believe justice was miscarried seeing that the police may have laid charges too quickly, there was misleading evidence and testimonies that were not heard, and a potential suspect was ignored.

The police may have laid charges too quickly on Mr. Truscott as it took the jury less than 6 hours to decide that he was guilty; and 15 days altogether for his quick arrest, trial and sentencing. This had a large number of people concerned that the investigation was too hasty. I think because it was such a high profile case they were pressured to solve it quickly, and pinned it on him because he was the last one seen with Lynn Harper, making him the prime suspect.

However, there was misleading evidence and testimonies that should have been heard at the trial, but were not; making the case incomplete. For example: in the 1959 trial, the time of death was pegged between 7 and 7:45 p.m., which pointed to Truscott as the murderer. But in 1966, the evidence used to determined the time of death was doubted by pathology experts. So, with further investigation the coroner published a review of his autopsy that opened the time frame to a 12-hour window. It was also found that police dismissed testimony from witnesses, including some who insisted they saw Harper and Truscott reach the highway. As well as a witness account stating that on the night she was murdered a strange car was seen near the woodlot where Harper was found, was not included in the original police case. Also, testimony by key witnesses in the original case were refuted.

Finally, the police and military never seriously considered other suspects that should have been flagged. In the mid 1960s, a misplaced psychiatric file from 1959 was discovered. It was about a sexual predator, who also sounded like a killer. Alexander Kalichuk, a heavy drinking air force sergeant with a history of sexual offences, and two convictions for indecent exposure.

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