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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Life imprisonment with 14 year min. before eligible for parole |
Years Imprisoned: |
4.33 |
Year Crime: |
2011 |
Year Convicted: |
2013 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Canada |
County or Region of Crime: |
Alberta |
City of Crime: |
Medicine Hat |
Result: |
Judicially Stayed Prosecution |
Summary of Case: |
"Connie Oakes was wrongly convicted in November 2013 of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Casey Armstrong in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in May 2011. Oakes was charged and arrested in January 2012. There was no physical, forensic or confession evidence linking Oakes to Armstrong's murder, so her prosecution was based on the identification evidence of a single witness, Wendy Scott, who testified against Oakes as part of her agreement to plead guilty to second-degree murder and a life sentence in exchange for the prosecution dropping its first-degree murder charge. After Oakes conviction by a jury following a two-week trial, she was sentenced to life in prison with a 14 year minimum before she would be eligible for parole. While Oakes' appeal was pending, on October 16, 2015 the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned Ms. Scott’s conviction and ordered a new trial because the facts presented to the judge when she entered her guilty plea did not support her conviction. The Crown Prosecution Service did not oppose Scott's appeal. Oakes appeal argued her conviction was a miscarrige of justice because Scott's conviction had been overturned; that Scott's testimony implicating Oakes in the murder was inconsistent because there were about 50 contradictions in Scott's testimony; that Scott had recanted her trial testimony against Oakes, claiming she was misled by police into implicating Oakes to reduce her own potential culpability for Armstrong's murder; and new evidence of Ms. Scott’s IQ of 50, her resulting cognitive limitations, including an inability to understand and recall complex matters. On April 6, 2016 the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned Oakes's conviction and ordered a new trial. The Court's ruling stated: "The fresh evidence key to our consideration of the miscarriage of justice issue is that this Court overturned Ms. Scott’s own murder conviction and resulting life sentence, and remitted the matter for trial upon the Crown agreeing that the evidence on which that conviction was based did not make out the offence. ... The fresh evidence places the reliability of Ms. Oakes’ conviction in serious doubt. The miscarriage of justice lies in maintaining the conviction in the face of fresh evidence that renders it factually unreliable." (R v Oakes, 2016 ABCA 90 (2016)) On April 28, 2016 Oakes was released from the Edmonton Institution for Women, after earlier that day the executive director of regional prosecution, Oorest Yereniuk, appeared in a Medicine Hat courtroom and stayed the charge against her. The prosecution has one year to re-commence Oakes' prosecution, but that rarely happens in the absence of new evidence supporting a prosecution. Oakes' was picked up at the prison by her cousin Linda Oakes, who told reporters, " "It was a racist case. The justice system in Canada has severely failed First Nations people."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
False testimony by the State's key eyewitness. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 6, 2016 the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned Oakes's conviction and ordered a new trial based on new evidence that placed the reliability of Oake's conviction in doubt. On April 28, 2016 Oakes was released from prison in Edmonton, after earlier that day the executive director of regional prosecution, Oorest Yereniuk, appeared in a Medicine Hat courtroom and stayed the charge against her. The prosecution has one year to re-commence Oakes' prosecution, but that rarely happens in the absence of new evidence supporting a prosecution." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
49 |
Age When Released: |
52 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Native American (Indian) |
Information Source 1: |
"She's coming home': Connie Oakes free after murder charge stayed by Alberta Crown: Earlier this month Alberta Court of Appeal ordered a new trial, By Meghan Grant, CBC News, April 28, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/connie-oakes-murder-charge-stayed-wendy-scott-1.3557995 |
Information Source 2: |
"Oakes a free woman, By Megan Lacelle (Staff), Medicine Hat News (Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada), April 29, 2016" |
Information Location 2: |
http://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2016/04/29/oakes-a-free-woman/ |
Information Source 3: |
"R v Oakes, 2016 ABCA 90 (Ct. of Appeals of Alberta, 4-6-2016) (Reversing conviction based on inconsistent witness testimony, and ordering a new trial.)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/doc/2016/2016abca90/2016abca90.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org