The Wrongful Conviction and Exoneration of David Milgaard

The Wrongful Conviction and Exoneration of David Milgaard

Background

At the time of the murder of which David Milgaard was accused of committing he was just 16 years old. He was a hippie, constantly in trouble. Even before he was a teenager he was getting into trouble. His parents and teachers considered him impulsive; he resisted authority (Regina Leader Post, 1992, as cited in Anderson & Anderson 1998). He was removed from kindergarten because he was considered to be a negative influence on the other children. When he was thirteen he spent time in a psychiatric centre (Anderson & Anderson, 1998)

Elements of the Crime

Gail Miller was a 22-year-old nursing assistant living in Saskatoon. She was found in an alley way between 6:45 and 7:30am on January 31st 1969. She had been raped, stabbed twelve times and left for dead. The rape was found to have occurred after she died. The police had little evidence; few clues had been left behind. There had been other attacks in the same area. Authorities tried to suppress the information that linked the Miller rape and murder to the two other assaults.

Milgaard's Whereabouts

David had decided to take a trip out to Alberta, along with two of his friends, Ron Wilson and Nichol John. Along the way there David wanted to stop through Saskatoon to pick up another friend, Shorty Cadrain. Once they got to Saskatoon they drove around not really knowing where they were going. They stopped to help someone out of a snow bank, and got stuck themselves; this is when Milgaard ripped his pants, something that came into evidence against him.

When they finally arrived at Cadrain's home, David changed his pants, and they left to go to Alberta. Larry Fisher, who was later convicted of this crime (Miller's murder) was staying in the same home as Cadrain at the time.

Some time after returning from their short trip to Alberta, Cadrain heard about the $2000 reward for information into Miller's death. Cadrain went to the police with a version of what happened that night, although he had been questioned earlier and had no information to give at that time. This is what made Milgaard a suspect in the case. From then on the police concentrated their efforts on finding evidence implicating Milgaard.

Within the statement Cadrain gave to the police he said Milgaard had blood on his clothes, he threw away a woman's cosmetic case from the car on the way to Alberta and Cadrain also stated that he threatened to kill Wilson and John because they knew too much.