Manitoba murder conviction deemed likely a miscarriage of justice by federal minister
Global News
A lawyer and director with Innocence Canada has said there needs to be an examination of homicide convictions involving Indigenous people over that last five decades in Manitoba.
A Manitoba man convicted of murder 50 years ago is getting another court date and a chance to clear his name.
Clarence Woodhouse was found guilty in 1974 of fatally beating and stabbing a restaurant worker in downtown Winnipeg.
Woodhouse was granted parole in 1983 and filed last year for a ministerial review of his conviction.
His lawyers have said a confession Woodhouse supposedly made was in fluent English, although he primarily spoke Saulteaux.
Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.
Two other men convicted in the killing, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, had their convictions quashed last year after a new trial was ordered and the Crown asked for an acquittal.
“The minister’s decision to order a new trial is not a decision about the guilt or innocence of the applicant,” a written statement from Virani’s office said Tuesday.
“It is a decision to return the matter to the courts where the relevant legal issues may be determined according to the law.”