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

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On 3 February 2008 Lena Sin of The Province reported “Eight years' jail for innocent man".

Lawyers reviewing cases to look for other miscarriages of justice”.

Norman Fox spent eight years and six months in jail for a crime he did not commit. The Vancouver man was wrongly convicted of rape. The federal government granted Fox a pardon in 1984 for what it called "a terrible miscarriage of justice." He left prison at the age of 48 - a free man but broke, jobless and despondent. Fox's case serves as a stark reminder that, despite the best of intentions, our justice system is fallible. For criminal lawyer Tamara Levy, it's the chief reason she's now heading a provincewide search for other victims of wrongful convictions. She's convinced there are more. "People can make mistakes. And it's gonna happen. Inevitably, there will be wrongful convictions. And all we can do is learn from those wrongful convictions and try to put safeguards in place," she says.

Levy is the energetic and affable director of the Innocence Project, launched last September at the University of B.C. law school. For those who've paid for someone else's crime, the project represents the possibility of justice when all else has failed. The UBC Law Innocence Project is the third such project in the country to review claims of wrongful conviction, and the first of its kind in Western Canada.

Currently, eight convicted murderers in B.C. are having their cases reviewed by Levy and 10 law-school students. Seven of the eight men are still behind bars. Across Canada, about 25 men have been wrongly convicted over the past 50 years. In case after case, the research has shown those disastrous mistakes had several factors in common. Dubious science or questionable expert evidence are among the leading causes - a situation currently highlighted in Ontario by the case of disgraced child pathologist Dr. Charles Smith, whose faulty testimony landed innocents in jail. False confessions are also among the leading causes of wrongful convictions. But it's faulty eyewitnesses that take the top spot. Indeed, all eight cases now under review by the UBC project are possible results of unreliable eyewitness testimony. "People are bad at identifying individuals, particularly in stressful situations," says Levy. "But it's very persuasive evidence in court. When someone says, 'That's the guy,' it's very persuasive to a jury, even when a judge warns the jury of the frailties of that evidence."

Even with the availability of DNA identification, the fact is most criminal trials are still recreations of human memory - which can fade, alter or be influenced over time. Donald Marshall, David Milgaard and Thomas Sophonow are just a few of the wrongly convicted in Canada who know all too well the tragic results of relying heavily on eyewitness accounts. All three were convicted of murder. Levy believes we can learn a lot from their cases. Tacked on her office wall is one of her favourite quotations from distinguished Vancouver defence lawyer Peter Wilson, who represented Sophonow in his 2001 inquiry. "The abiding lesson for me is this," said Wilson. "The accused in any criminal case, no matter how compelling the evidence appears, may well be innocent. We must never lose sight of that truth. It is a truth which judges, prosecutors and defence counsel alike must always bear in mind because when we lose sight of it, every one of us in our own small way prepares a case for convicting the next Tom Sophonow."

The first "innocence project" was born in New York in 1992. Since then, about 60 post-conviction review projects have started around the globe. In the U.S. alone, there have been 212 post-conviction DNA exonerations. The review work is painstakingly slow. Students go through anywhere from three to 20 boxes of documents for each claim. Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School, which started an innocence project in 1997, has only uncovered two wrongly decided cases in a decade. "Ten years is a long time," concedes Levy. "But those two guys would still be in jail had it not been for the project." Matt Brandon, a UBC law student, calls the project "an invaluable education." "I can't think of a better experience than freeing someone who was wrongly convicted," he says.

The UBC Law Innocence Project got off the ground thanks to a donation from retired Vancouver businessman Leon Blackmore, who developed a strong interest in the subject years before he met Levy. Like Levy, Blackmore was convinced there were innocent people wasting away in B.C.'s jails. His foundation has provided the startup costs as well as an annual $50,000 grant to cover expenses for three years. Levy is welcoming other donors as she hopes to continue the project past 2010.

Renowned criminal-defence lawyer Richard Peck sits on the project's advisory board. He admires Levy's drive. "She's a very effervescent, engaging, highly intelligent person with a tremendous work ethic -- and a real sense of justice," said Peck, who also mentored Levy when she started her career a decade ago. "She's an ideal person to be heading a project like this."

Guilty until proven innocent . . .

The UBC Law Innocence Project is reviewing eight claims of wrongful conviction and could take on 20 more in the near future. To be eligible for consideration, applicants must claim to be factually innocent of a serious offence, have exhausted the appeal process and not have had their file reviewed by other agencies or lawyers. Priority will be given to those currently in jail. If the case meets eligibility requirements, a law student is assigned to do a review under the direction of a mentor. At the end of the multistep review, a recommendation is made on whether the project should continue with the case. If the case warrants review by the federal justice minister, students will assist lawyers in making that application. The minister holds the power to dismiss it, direct a new trial or send a case back to the Court of Appeal for a new appeal. - For more info, see www.innocenceproject.law.ubc.ca

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