Criminal Law

Driskell Inquiry

James Driskell was convicted of first degree murder in 1991. In 2002, mitochondrial DNA testing revealed that three hairs found in Driskell's van that had been presented at trial as microscopically "consistent with" the deceased's hair in fact came from three different people (none of which was the deceased). It also emerged that important evidence had been withheld from his counsel at trial. The federal Minister of Justice ordered a new trial, and in 2005 the Crown stayed the proceedings. Mr. Driskell spent more than 13 years in prison as a result of what is now recognized as a wrongful conviction.

In December, 2005, the Manitoba Government appointed the Hon. Patrick LeSage, Q.C., former Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances of Mr. Driskell's wrongful conviction, and consider a number of systemic issues arising from the facts of the case. Former SGM partner Michael Code (now a full-time professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law) and current SGM partner Jonathan Dawe acted as Commission Counsel. The Commission heard evidence over the summer and fall of 2006, and its report was publicly released in February, 2007.

Jonathan Dawe acted as counsel to the commission in the Driskell Inquiry.

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