Why did this happen to Donald Marshall, Jr.?
In the case of Donald Marshall, Jr., the Canadian criminal law system "failed at virtually every turn" from his arrest and wrongful conviction up to ,and even beyond, his acquittal in 1983. Usually a number of factors contribute to the wrongful convictions and imprisonment of people who are accused of a crime. These factors include: incorrect eyewitness identification and testimony, police and prosecutorial misconduct, false confessions and unsound forensic science or its misuse. For Donald Marshall, Jr., all these factors and even racism contributed to his false conviction of the murder of Sandy Seale in 1971. Even before Donald Marshall's arrest, there was no physical or eyewitness evidence that related him to the murder. The police who responded to the scene the night of the crime did not do their job properly by failing to question witnesses, failing to cordon of the area and failing to search the area. The Sergeant of Detectives then failed to listen to Marshall's version of events because he thought Marshall was an Indian who wasn't "worth" as much as the other white people in the community. With his theory stuck in his head, the Sergeant of Detectives then proceeded in finding his own "witnesses" and convincing them to go against Marshall's story. If the two boys decided to tell the truth instead of go along with what the Sergeant had told them, then Marshall would not have been arrested and the whole ordeal would have been avoided, but that obviously did not happen. Even with one of the witnesses being mentally ill, and the Crown attorneys, Defense attorneys and trial Judge not doing their job properly, Donald Marshall, Jr., an innocent man, was sentenced to life in prison. After many years and several people coming in to tell the truth about the events that occurred the night of the murder, Marshall's appeal was finally heard and he was finally acquitted of the crime he did not commit. Unfortunately, the story did not end there. During his negotiations to get compensation for his wrongful conviction, he was not only blamed for his wrongful conviction, but he was also accused of attempted robbery. With this view, given by the Court of Appeal who didn't want to admit they were at fault, Marshall's compensation was lowered to a mere $700,000. Why did this all happen to Donald Marshall, Jr.? Because he was a tough Indian boy living in a mostly white city and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.