{"id":18043,"date":"2025-02-24T19:19:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/saint-john-police-reviewing-report-on-wrongful-conviction-of-two-n-b-men-new-brunswick\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T19:19:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:19:44","slug":"saint-john-police-reviewing-report-on-wrongful-conviction-of-two-n-b-men-new-brunswick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/saint-john-police-reviewing-report-on-wrongful-conviction-of-two-n-b-men-new-brunswick\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint John police reviewing report on wrongful conviction of two N.B. men – New Brunswick"},"content":{"rendered":"


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An external review of police conduct around the wrongful murder convictions of two New Brunswick men has been completed, but the civilian board that oversees the\u00a0Saint\u00a0John, N.B., police force<\/a> says privacy concerns need to be addressed before it can me made public.<\/p>\n

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Tamara Kelly, chairwoman of the city\u2019s Board of Police Commissioners, acknowledged the report has taken time. Police Chief Robert Bruce ordered the \u201ccomprehensive review\u201d in January 2024 after a court exonerated Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie of a 1983 murder they did not commit. Mailman spent 18 years in prison for the crime and Gillespie served 21 years.<\/p>\n

Kelly said in an interview last week that the review by retired RCMP officer Allen Farrah was complicated by the length of time since the murder investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are not around from that time,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, you know, to make sure that it was done well, they did what they had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Now, she said, Bruce is reviewing the report to ensure protected information is not divulged. \u201cThere could be things in there \u2026 whether it\u2019s identifiable information or any of that sort of stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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On Jan. 4, 2024, New Brunswick Court of King\u2019s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare ruled that Mailman and Gillespie had been victims of a miscarriage of justice. That came after federal Justice Minister Arif Virani ordered a new trial, citing evidence that called into question \u201cthe overall fairness\u201d of their prosecution.<\/p>\n

A submission to the court by Innocence Canada in January 2024 alleged the convictions had been the result of \u201cpolice tunnel vision, non-disclosure of important evidence, recantations by the two key Crown witnesses,\u201d as well as a disregard for the men\u2019s strong alibis. Innocence Canada led the legal fight to exonerate the two men.<\/p>\n

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The document noted that\u00a0Saint\u00a0John\u00a0police had given a total of $1,800 \u2014 in addition to hotel and relocation costs \u2014 to a 16-year-old who testified in 1984 that he had witnessed the murder of George Leeman in\u00a0Saint\u00a0John. The payments were not disclosed during the trial. The witness later recanted his story to his own lawyer, to a journalist, in two letters and to a federal Justice Department lawyer looking into Mailman and Gillespie\u2019s case in 1998.<\/p>\n

Gillespie, who died last year, alleged he was told to sign a \u201cfalse confession\u201d saying Mailman killed Leeman. If he refused to sign the confession, he said, the\u00a0Saint\u00a0John\u00a0police told him he would be sent to jail for life.<\/p>\n

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