Wrongly convicted, man seeks $14M for 31 years in prison

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This article was published 03/05/2012 (4368 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINDSOR, Ont. — An Ottawa man who languished behind bars for more than three decades on a wrongful murder conviction is seeking millions of dollars in compensation from the institutions he believes were behind his ordeal.

Lawyers for Romeo Phillion announced the 73-year-old was launching a lawsuit to get compensation for his incarceration.

The $14-million lawsuit names the Ontario attorney general, the Ottawa Police Services Board and two former police officers as defendants.

Phillion’s co-counsel David Robins alleged the targets of the suit collaborated to suppress key evidence, which resulted in Phillion’s stay in prison.

The substantial damages, Robins added, would provide only partial relief for his elderly client.

“No amount of monetary compensation is going to turn back the hands of time and necessarily correct the wrong that was caused to Mr. Phillion and the miscarriage of justice that he suffered,” Robins said. “But our hope is that if we’re successful… it will allow him to live the balance of his life in some level of comfort.”

Phillion’s legal saga began in 1967 when Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy was stabbed to death. Phillion himself was several hundred kilometres away in Trenton, Ont. at the time, a fact established in a police report.

Phillion was dropped as a suspect but resurfaced in 1971 when he was arrested on an unrelated robbery charge. While in custody, Robins said Phillion confessed to Roy’s murder only to retract his statement hours later.

Phillion’s lawsuit alleges police manipulated witnesses to corroborate Phillion’s confession and made no mention of the earlier evidence that would have cleared his name.

Phillion was found guilty in 1972 and sentenced to life. He remained unaware of the key report until 1998. Once it surfaced, the report became the basis for Phillion’s quest to have his conviction overturned. The Ontario Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in 2009 and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors dismissed the new charges, saying there was no possibility of a conviction.

 

— The Canadian Press