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[This version of the report has been edited by Dr Robert N Moles

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On 23 April 2008 Rene Johnston of the Toronto Star reported “No Baltovich inquiry, AG says”.

She said Attorney General Chris Bentley said today he sees no need for a public inquiry into the Robert Baltovich case, even though Premier Dalton McGuinty said he’s personally open to the idea. “My first instinct is that this case followed the process,” Bentley told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting this morning. “This is not the type of case that would merit or warrant an inquiry.” Baltovich was found not guilty yesterday of the 1990 murder of his girlfriend, University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain, after the Crown dropped its prosecution at his second trial. He had been found guilty of second-degree murder in his first trial and sentenced to prison, but was released in 2000 on appeal pending the second trial.

NDP justice critic Peter Kormos said if any case cries out for an inquiry, this is it. “The Baltovich story has a very Mexican ring to it, if you will,” Kormos said. Bentley was evasive when asked about a news report that the Crown had earlier offered Baltovich a one-day jail sentence in return for revealing the location of Bain’s body. “It is unhelpful and not respectful of the process to engage in a possible analysis,” the attorney general said, refusing to confirm or deny the offer or to comment on whether his office was consulted on it. Kormos said he finds it difficult to believe the attorney general’s office would not have been contacted about such a “peculiar” and troubling deal.

Bentley suggested he is not overly concerned about the 18 years it took for Baltovich to be cleared. “There are very unusual cases, such as this one, that do take a long time but at the end of the process Mr. Baltovich was found not guilty.” Earlier, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he is willing to consider an inquiry into how the case was handled. “It’s a troubling story obviously. We now have two sad cases, one affecting the Bain family and the other affecting Mr. Baltovich,” McGuinty said. “Reacting as a human being, you can ask yourself … how things could have gone wrong and what do we need to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again?” he added. “As a layperson, when I hear this story and learn a little bit more about it, I think it affects all of us, and we ask ourselves, well, how did we go wrong? As a society, how could this have happened? What do we need to do make sure it doesn’t happen again?” he said. “But I will listen to the attorney general and I’ll consult him on this, get his best advice.”

McGuinty acknowledged that there is precedent for financial compensation in cases such as Baltovich’s, although Bentley said no request has been made. “If a request comes, that would be considered in due course,” Bentley said. Kormos said the lack of clear answers from Bentley about what went awry in the Baltovich case and his refusal to call for a public inquiry is “highly objectionable.” “The Crown concedes it has no evidence,” said Kormos, a lawyer by training. “It’s objectionable and deplorable that this government would not want to know why an innocent person could be convicted in the first place, would not want to know why it would take so long for that person to be cleared by a process in which the Crown tenders no evidence whatsoever.”

He accused McGuinty and Bentley of playing “good cop, bad cop” on the prospects for a public inquiry with the premier open to it and Bentley saying no. “Mr. McGuinty is trying to hide behind his attorney general,” Kormos said. “There’s some intellectual dishonesty going on here.”

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