Man sues for wrongful conviction
Posted May 3, 2012 03:10:46 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A man who spent more than 30 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted of murder is suing the Ottawa Police Services Board – two individual officers and the Attorney General of Ontario for 14 million dollars.
Romeo Phillion’s suit accuses the defendants of malicious and negligent conduct that resulted in his conviction and long prison sentence in the 1967 murder of an Ottawa firefighter.
Phillion alleges police manipulated witnesses to support a false confession he quickly recanted, despite their knowledge that he was not in Ottawa at the time of the murder.
Phillion was sentenced to life in prison in 1972 for the murder of Leopold Roy, but the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in 2009.
Attorney David Robins said investigators suppressed evidence that would have proven Phillion’s innocence.
Robins said there was a police report, which showed Phillion wasn’t in Ottawa at the time of the crime, but in Trenton at a service station.
“Really no amount of compensation is going to necessarily help Mr. Phillion to overcome the wrong that was caused to him by his wrongful conviction,” said Robins.
“I think that he’d like to live the rest of his live in peace and knowing that he’s got money to enjoy what’s left of his life.”
