Judge apologizes to Saint John men acquitted 40 years after murder conviction

CANADA ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY IN 1963

CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024 

Robert Mailman, left, and Walter Gillespie were acquitted this week of second-degree murder charges that resulted in convictions in 1984. (Graham Thompson/CBC - image credit)

A New Brunswick chief justice has apologized to two Saint John men who spent 40 years wrongly convicted of a murder they didn't commit.

In a written decision issued Friday, Tracey DeWare of the Court of King's Bench said she's been left to believe that "serious mistakes were made" and that a miscarriage of justice occurred in the case of Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie.

Those mistakes harmed not only Mailman and Gillespie but were also an injustice to the family and friends of George Leeman, who were deprived of answers surrounding the circumstances of his homicide, said DeWare, who had acquitted the men of the murder charges on Thursday.

"The justice system in this case failed Mr. Mailman, Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Leeman," she wrote. "For that, as Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench of New Brunswick, I offer my sincere apology."

Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare is pictured here at her swearing-in ceremony with New Brunswick Court of Appeal Chief Justice Marc Richard.

Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare apologized to Mailman and Gillespie for the miscarriage of justice they suffered. (Submitted by Tracey DeWare)

Mailman and Gillespie were convicted of second-degree murder in May 1984 for the November 1983 homicide of Leeman.

The two were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years, and maintained their innocence all throughout.

Following unsuccessful appeals and efforts to get their case reviewed, federal Justice Minister Arif Virani announced last month he was overturning the convictions and granting Mailman and Gillespie new trials. Virani said new information led him to believe "a miscarriage of justice likely occurred."

On Thursday, the two men made their first court appearance since their convictions were overturned.

Crown prosecutor Karen Lee told the court she had no evidence to present against the two men, prompting DeWare to find them not guilty of the charges they first faced 40 years ago.

Jerome Kennedy, lawyer for Mailman and Gillespie, said it's important that DeWare apologized for what the justice system got wrong.

Jerome Kennedy, lawyer for Mailman and Gillespie, says it's important that DeWare apologized for what the justice system got wrong. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

Jerome Kennedy, a lawyer who represented Mailman and Gillespie, said he was pleased to see an apology from DeWare as part of her written decision.

"[DeWare's apology] is very important not only to Mr. Mailman and Mr. Gillespie, but to the administration of justice," said Kennedy, a lawyer with Innocence Canada.

"Anytime we have an eminent jurist like the chief justice saying that, ' apologize,' or 'we apologize on behalf of the system,' that's very important."

Kennedy said that last July, the acquittal of Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse of murder in Manitoba prompted an apology from that province's superior court chief justice, as well as the province's attorney general and head of public prosecutions.

It's unclear if the same is planned in New Brunswick.

CBC News has asked the provincial Department of Justice whether Attorney General Ted Flemming plans to apologize for the men's wrongful convictions but has not yet received a response.