|
Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
|
Years
Imprisoned:
|
4 |
Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Year Convicted: |
1981 |
Year
Cleared:
|
2000 |
Location
of Trial:
|
Canada |
Result:
|
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
|
Wrongfully convicted three times of the 1981 murder of shop clerk Barbara Stoppel. Acquitted by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in Dec. 1985 and released from prison. Winnepeg police announced on June 8, 2000 that DNA evidence had cleared Mr. Sophonow. On Nov. 5, 2001, the Manitoba Justice Minister released a report recommending he receive $2.6 in compensation. Barbara Stoppel was working at the Ideal Donut Shop when around 8:30 in the evening twine was placed around her neck and she was strangled. She died a few days later at the St. Boniface Hospital. There was extensive media coverage of the crime and the investigation and the proceedings that followed it. Thomas Sophonow was charged with the murder of Barbara Stoppel. He underwent three trials. The first was a mistrial as the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. At the second and third trials, he was convicted. In each case the Court of Appeal, very properly in my view, overturned the verdict, directed a new trial and, on the last occasion, acquitted him. From the time of his acquittal by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 1985. In 1998, the Winnipeg Police Service undertook a reinvestigation of the murder of Barbara Stoppel. On June the 8th, 2000, it announced that Thomas Sophonow was not responsible for the murder and that another suspect had been identified. Sophonow was innocent and had been wrongfully convicted three times of Barbara Stoppel's 1981 murder. |
Conviction
Caused By:
|
|
Innocence
Proved By:
|
Absence of evidence caused his conviction to be reversed in 1985. DNA evidence cleared him absolutely in 2000.
|
Defendant
Aided By:
|
|
Compensation Awarded: |
$1.6 million |
Was Perpetrator Found? |
|
Age
When Imprisoned:
|
|
Age
When Released:
|
|
Information Source 1: |
Wrongfully Convicted - CBC |
Information
Location 1:
|
http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/facts/wrong_convicted.html |
Information
Source 2:
|
AIDWYC website - Wrongfully convicted webpage |
Information
Location 2:
|
http://www.aidwyc.org/ |
Information
Source 3:
|
The Inquiry Regarding Thomas Sophonow, |
Information
Location 3:
|
http://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/sophonow/recommendations/english.html |
Information
Source 4:
|
Province Calls Commission of Inquiry Into Thomas Sophonow Case |
Information
Location 4:
|
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2000/06/2000-06-08-02.html |
Information
Source 5:
|
Sophonow Inquiry Report Released |
Information
Location 5:
|
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2001/11/2001-11-05-05.html |
Ethnicity/Skin:
|
White |
Book
About
Case:
|
|
Book
Information:
|
|
Book About Case (2): |
|
Book Information (2): |
|
Movie About Case: |
|
Comments About Case: |
|
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org