Networked Knowledge - Media Report

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

On 30 May 2007 Kirk Makin the Justice Reporter for the Globe and Mail reported “Notes prove Baltovich lied, Crown alleges”

Embedded in a true crime book about the Robert Baltovich murder case are "crucial" quotations that prove Mr Baltovich is a calculating liar who hid evidence from the police, Crown counsel Philip Kotanen alleged yesterday. Mr. Kotanen made his allegations in written and oral arguments during a legal tussle over his attempt to subpoena interviews, notes and tapes that author Derek Finkle used to write a book about the Baltovich case - No Claim to Mercy.

Mr. Baltovich is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, 22, who disappeared from a University of Toronto campus one evening and was never seen again. Arrested after a lengthy police investigation, Mr. Baltovich was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992. He won a retrial in 2004. In what constituted the Crown's opening salvo in the much-delayed retrial, Mr. Kotanen left little doubt that he intends to force Mr. Finkle into the witness box once a jury has been picked to hear the case in September. Mr. Kotanen told Mr. Justice David Watt of the Ontario Superior Court that potential jurors deserve to see the evidence properly tested in court. "Mr. Finkle's file, in and of itself, has no value," he said. "We need a witness to identify it and give evidence."

However, a written brief filed by James Lockyer and Joanne McLean, lawyers for Mr. Baltovich, insisted Mr. Kotanen is utterly wrong about every allegation of falsehood or contradiction that he made based on Mr. Baltovich's quotes in Mr. Finkle's book. They said every fact in it was on the public record prior to Mr. Finkle's book being published, meaning that the Crown has either misunderstood the facts' significance or simply misrepresented them. "The whole exercise smacks of a fishing expedition; that maybe there is something in the source materials for the book that might assist the Crown in preparing its case - or, more likely, preparing to meet the defence case," the brief said.

Iain MacKinnon, a lawyer for Mr. Finkle, warned Judge Watt that allowing the seizure of the material will have a devastating effect on the practice of journalism, since sources are frequently unwilling to speak with candour if they have to worry about being entangled in legal proceedings.

Source: 30 May 2007 Kirk Makin Justice Reporter Globe and Mail “Notes prove Baltovich lied, Crown alleges”

See also

Dr Charles Smith Homepage
Canadian Issues Homepage
List of Australian, UK and USA miscarriage of justice cases
Article on Australian miscarriage of justice cases
Article on UK miscarriage of justice cases
Article on USA miscarriage of justice cases

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