John Frederick Salmon

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Charge:	Manslaughter
Sentence:	10 years
Years Imprisoned:	3
Year Crime:	1970
Year Convicted:	1971
Year Cleared:	2015
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Canada
County or Region of Crime:	Ontario
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"John Frederick Salmon was wrongly convicted in 1971 of manslaughter in the death of his 30-year-old live-in girlfriend, Maxine Ditchfield,.on September 22, 1970 at the home they shared in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. Salmon was charged with causing Distchfield's death based on the prosecution's theory that he beat her during a drunken rage. During Salmon's trial in 1971 the Oxford County regional pathologist testified as a prosecution witness that Ditchfield died from brain swelling caused by a severe beating. After Salmon's conviction by a jury he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Salmon was released on parole in 1974 after three years imprisonment. The Association of the Defence of the Wrongly Convicted accepted Salmon's case and was able to obtain the new evidence by four forensic pathologists who after reviewing the medical evidence determined that to a reasonable medical certainty that Ditchfield's brain injury was caused by a fall, which led to a stroke. Based on the new evidence undermining the trial trestimony upon which his conviction was based, Salmon filed a petition to overturn his conviction. On June 22, 2015 the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Salmon's 1970 manslaughter conviction based on new evidence his wife died of the natural cause of a stroke. The Crown did not oppose Salmon's petition, and after his exoneration Crown lawyer Gregory Tweney apologized to the now 75-year-old Salmon on behalf of the court “for the miscarriage of justice that occurred in this case and everything he has endured as a result.”'"
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous expert testimony about the deceased person's cause of death.
Innocence Proved By:	"On June 22, 2015 the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Salmon's 1970 manslaughter conviction based on new evidence his wife died of the natural cause of a stroke."
Defendant Aided By:	Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	31
Age When Released:	34
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"John Salmon's manslaughter conviction overturned: New evidence indicates 1970 death of common-law wife Maxine Ditchfield caused by stroke, By Staff writer, CBC News, June 22, 2015"
Information Location 1:	http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/john-salmon-s-manslaughter-conviction-overturned-1.3122365
Information Source 2:	"Man’s exoneration triggers absolution for one family, pain for another, By Rachel Mendleson (News reporter), The Toronto Star, June 22, 2015"
Information Location 2:	https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/06/22/john-salmon-exonerated-45-years-after-manslaughter-conviction.html
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John Frederick Salmon

Charge:

Manslaughter

Sentence:

10 years

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

1970

Year Convicted:

1971

Year Cleared:

2015

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Canada

County or Region of Crime:

Ontario

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous expert testimony about the deceased person's cause of death.

Innocence Proved By:

"On June 22, 2015 the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Salmon's 1970 manslaughter conviction based on new evidence his wife died of the natural cause of a stroke."

Defendant Aided By:

Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

31

Age When Released:

34

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"John Salmon's manslaughter conviction overturned: New evidence indicates 1970 death of common-law wife Maxine Ditchfield caused by stroke, By Staff writer, CBC News, June 22, 2015"

Information Location 1:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/john-salmon-s-manslaughter-conviction-overturned-1.3122365

Information Source 2:

"Man’s exoneration triggers absolution for one family, pain for another, By Rachel Mendleson (News reporter), The Toronto Star, June 22, 2015"

Information Location 2:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/06/22/john-salmon-exonerated-45-years-after-manslaughter-conviction.html

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