Gordon Pickard

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Charge:	Evidence Tampering
Sentence:	18 months
Years Imprisoned:	0.75
Year Crime:	2012
Year Convicted:	2015
Year Cleared:	2016
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Malta
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Gordon Pickard was wrongly convicted in 2015 of attempting to pervert the course of justice for tampering with evidence in Malta. Pickard was a Lance Bombardier in Malta's AFM when he was charged along with two other men, with tampering with evidence related to the investigation into the death of an escaped Malian migrant during his recapture in 2012. Pickard's prosecution was based on the allegation that he and the other two men had agreed to falsely claim 32-year-old Mamadou Kamara had been struggling violently with them when he died. After his conviction Pickard was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Pickard appealed. On November 30, 2016 Malta's Court of Criminal Appeal overturned Pickard's conviction on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to prove he tampered with evidence. Judge Edwina Grima's ruling held that making a false declaration of what had occurred to the police “can never constitute” the crime of suppression or destruction of evidence and neither could the scenario as envisaged by the trial court. Judge Grima said the law was clear when it speaks about hiding material evidence, about concealing, destroying or suppressing clues or circumstantial evidence, such as the murder weapon, fingerprints, blood traces and items used in the commission of the crime. The other two men involved in the incident, Mark Anthony Dimech and Gunner Clive Cuschieri are awaiting trial for murder in Kamara's death."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"On November 30, 2016 Malta's Court of Criminal Appeal overturned Pickard's conviction on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to prove he tampered with evidence."
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Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	37
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:
Information Source 1:	"Soldier's conviction over migrant's fatal beating overturned on appeal, By Matthew Agius, Malta Today, November 30, 2016"
Information Location 1:	http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/72148/soldiers_conviction_over_migrants_fatal_beating_overturned_on_appeal#.WHcgWt3dlhH
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Gordon Pickard

Charge:

Evidence Tampering

Sentence:

18 months

Years Imprisoned:

0.75

Year Crime:

2012

Year Convicted:

2015

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Malta

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On November 30, 2016 Malta's Court of Criminal Appeal overturned Pickard's conviction on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to prove he tampered with evidence."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

37

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Soldier's conviction over migrant's fatal beating overturned on appeal, By Matthew Agius, Malta Today, November 30, 2016"

Information Location 1:

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/72148/soldiers_conviction_over_migrants_fatal_beating_overturned_on_appeal#.WHcgWt3dlhH

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Book Information (2):

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