Overturned Convictions in Canada - David Milgaard

David Milgaard was convicted of raping and murdering 20-year-old nursing assistant Gail Miller in 1969. When she was found on a snowbank, Milgaard and his friends were picking up their friend, Albert Cadrain. Tipped off by Cadrain, who admitted he was mostly interested in the $2,000 reward for information, British Columbia police arrested Milgaard in May 1969 and sent him back to Saskatchewan where he was charged with Miller's murder. Cadrain testified that he had seen Milgaard return the night of Miller's murder in blood-stained clothing.

Both Ron and Nichol were also called to testify against him. They had told police that they had been with Milgaard the entire day and that they believed him to be innocent, but they changed their stories for the court. Ron later recanted his testimony claiming that he had been told he was personally under suspicion and wanted to alleviate the pressure on himself. Milgaard was sentenced to life in prison in January 1970.

Milgaard appealed his conviction several times, but was blocked both by bureaucracy and by a justice system unreceptive to those who were not willing to admit their guilt. But in July 1997, a DNA laboratory in the United Kingdom released a report confirming that semen samples on the victim's clothing did not originate with Milgaard -- for all intents and purposes clearing Milgaard of the crime. The Saskatchewan government then apologized for the wrongful conviction, and Larry Fisher was arrested days later. Fisher had been living in Cadrain's basement at the time of the murder.