What Is Steven Truscott's Jury Trial

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Introduction:
On June 9, 1959, 12-year-old Lynne Harper was raped and murder, her remains found two days later, near Clinton, Ontario. 8 In September 1959, Steven Truscott was convicted for all crimes committed against Harper. Truscott was only 14 at the time and was initially supposed to be a death row inmate, with the sentence later reduced to life in prison. This is important, because 48 years later in 2007, he was exonerated of all charges. This case shed light on the problems of the criminal justice system, as the conviction of Steven Truscott was a miscarriage of justice brought upon by police tunnel vision and suppression of evidence.
Background:
Steven Truscott and Lynne Harper were classmates and friends. On June 9, 1959, the two …show more content…

The prosecution based their case on what they thought was a string of inconsistent statements Truscott had made, a mysterious abrasion on Truscott’s penis, and evidence that fresh bicycle tracks were found leading to Harper’s body. They also questioned why it was not until a day later that Truscott told police that he saw Harper get into a car on the night of her disappearance. The time of death was also a major contributing factor to conviction, as there were multiple witnesses to testify the timeframe of Harper and Truscott’s hangout. The coroner, Dr. Pennistan, testified that Lynne Harper had died between 7:00 pm and 7:45 pm on June 9th, 1959, this time frame was determined through examination of Harper’s stomach contents by placing them in a glass jar and holding the jar to a window for …show more content…

Truscott appealed his case to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which was dismissed on January 21, 1960. On the same date, his death sentence was also changed to a term of life in prison, with a possibility of parole in 10 years. Truscott applied to appeal this decision from the judgment of the Court of Appeal and his request was refused on February 24, 1960. In 1966, the federal Minister of Justice referred the conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada for its consideration and an eight-person majority of that court upheld the

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