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Killer seeks bail during case review

Ottawa delves into 1987 murder conviction

By: Bruce Owen

24/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Frank Ostrowski is optimistic he'll be freed. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES )

Frank Ostrowski walked in the downtown Law Courts Building on Monday as a convicted killer.

He hopes that changes today -- and that one day soon he won't have to wear handcuffs or be shadowed by sheriff's officers.

The 60-year-old grandfather is fighting for release on bail while federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson reviews his 1987 murder conviction to determine whether there may have been a miscarriage of justice.

Today his lawyers, James Lockyer and Alan Libman of the Association In Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC), will argue why Ostrowski should be released on bail pending a decision on whether he got a fair trial.

On Monday, Ostrowski said he felt good about his chances. But it will be a courtroom slugfest.

Crown attorney Rick Saull told Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche that Ostrowski should stay put in Rockwood Institution until a decision is made on his claim he was wrongly convicted. Suche is expected to reserve her decision.

Ostrowski's case has been referred to Ottawa's Criminal Conviction Review Group, which advises the federal minister on wrongful convictions. It has retained Halifax lawyer John Briggs to review the case.

Saull said Briggs should decide whether Ostrowski got a fair trial -- not by Manitoba Justice officials or at Ostrowski's bail hearing. "Let's have an independent review," Saull told Suche.

Lockyer said that review would have moved along more quickly than it has because Manitoba Justice has been slow to release documents, such as Crown memos and police notes, under disclosure rules relating to the case. AIDWYC has been asking for the documents for five years.

"It's quite an outrageous position for my learned friend to take," Lockyer said in response to Saull. "I'm horrified."

Ostrowski's case is the latest in a string of wrongful conviction claims in Manitoba courts. Thomas Sophonow and James Driskell were wrongly convicted of murder. Recently, the Crown opted not to retry Kyle Unger for murder. Unger was granted bail in 2005.

Monday's hearing focused on Matthew Lovelace, the star witness against Ostrowski, and whether Lovelace got a deal on a trafficking charge to testify against his ex drug-dealing partner.

Lawyer Hymie Weinstein, who acted for Lovelace in 1986 on a drug charge, testified Monday.

Weinstein testified he negotiated with the federal Crown's office to have the charge against Lovelace stayed if he testified against Ostrowski.

Weinstein said he did not tell his client about the deal and that his client never asked about it, something Weinstein said he has never forgotten.

"The one thing I remember about Mr. Lovelace is he never asked me to get a deal on the drug charge," he said.

Lovelace testified at Ostrowski's trial he had no deal in exchange for his testimony.

Weinstein said he did not tell Lovelace about the deal because he did not want that knowledge to taint his testimony.

Lockyear suggested Lovelace should have known about such a deal either from police or the provincial Crown's office, and that it should have been disclosed to the jury.

Lockyear asked Weinstein if it was ethical for him to withhold that information from his client.

"Please, don't question my ethics," Weinstein shot back.

Weinstein also said he did not recall having a discussion about Lovelace's deal with now-retired prosecutor George Dangerfield, who handled Ostrowski's trial.

The issue of secret deals was well-canvassed in the 2006 Driskell inquiry, and helped AIDWYC show he got an unfair trial for the 1990 murder of Perry Harder. It was found police and prosecutors failed to disclose that a key Crown witness was compensated for his testimony. Driskell spent 12 years behind bars. He was later awarded $4 million in compensation. Dangerfield also prosecuted Driskell.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 24, 2009 A5

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