Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
12 |
Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
1971 |
Year Cleared: |
1983 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Canada |
County or Region of Crime: |
Nova Scotia |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Donald Marshall Jr. was wrongly convicted of murder in 1971 and sentenced to life in prison when he was 17. Marshall was acquitted by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983. He was awarded CAN$225,000 compensation in 1984. In 1989 the Hickman Commission concluded that the police had made numerous mistakes and had been influenced by racism towards Marshall, who was a native Canadian. In 1990 Marshall was awarded an additional CAN$1,600,000. Marshall died on August 5, 2009 in Sydney, Nova Scotia at the age of 55, of complications from a double lung transplant. On October 15, 2009, Atlantic Canadas native chiefs have voted to pay Donald Marshall Jr.s family members $2 million in recognition of the advancement he made of fishing treaties. In 2001 the leaders of the regions nearly three dozen Mikmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy First Nations bands committed to pay Donald Marshall Jr. $2 million, but the money wasn't paid before he died." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Police misconduct and police racism. |
Innocence Proved By: |
Donald Marshall Jr. was acquitted by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983 |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"CAN$1,825,000 million (CAN$225,000 in 1984 and CAN$1,600,000 in 1990)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
17 |
Age When Released: |
29 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Native |
Information Source 1: |
Wrongfully Convicted - CBC |
Information Location 1: |
http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/facts/wrong_convicted.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Compensation received by persons wrongly convicted in Canada, AIDWYC Journal, Spring 2009, p. 12" |
Information Location 2: |
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Information Source 3: |
"Chiefs agree to pay Marshall family, By Davene Jeffrey (staff writer), The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia), October 16, 2009" |
Information Location 3: |
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1147773.html |
Information Source 4: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org