Seeking vindication nearly a half-century later

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This article was published 23/10/2023 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lawyers searching for a man they believe was wrongfully convicted of murder nearly 50 years ago have finally tracked him down and will be representing him in court this week.

Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization advocating on behalf of people convicted of crimes they did not commit, will represent Clarence Woodhouse at a bail hearing in the Court of King’s Bench today, according to a Sunday news release.

Woodhouse was convicted, along with two other men, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, of murdering restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan in 1974 . Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were exonerated in July, when Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal declared them innocent, apologized and called them “heroes in every sense of the word.” All three men had long proclaimed their innocence, saying they were assaulted by Winnipeg police officers and forced to sign false confessions.

Innocence Canada believes Clarence Woodhouse was also wrongfully convicted, but they were unable to find him. His brother, Russell Woodhouse, who was convicted of manslaughter in the case, died in 2011.

Clarence Woodhouse, now in his early 70s, has been out on parole since 1987. In February, his parole was suspended, with court records showing he was charged with sexual assault and sexual interference. It appears a trial is scheduled for next year.

According to the release, Innocence Canada filed an application on Sept. 13 with federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for a ministerial review of Clarence Woodhouse’s conviction. They also filed a posthumous application on Russell Woodhouse’s behalf with the support of his surviving sister.

It was a ministerial review by former federal justice minister David Lametti that paved the way to the exoneration of Anderson and Allan Woodhouse. (Anderson is Clarence Woodhouse’s cousin but neither is related to Allan Woodhouse.) Lametti quashed their convictions in June after new evidence came to light in the case. He ordered a new trial, at which the Crown entered no evidence, signalling the prosecution’s recognition that a wrongful conviction occurred.

Monday, Innocence Canada lawyers James Lockyer and Jerome Kennedy will ask that Clarence Woodhouse be released on bail pending Virani’s decision on the ministerial review. They call it “the next step on Clarence Woodhouse’s road to vindication.”

“Forty-nine years has been an interminable wait for Clarence Woodhouse but he never gave up,” said Jerome Kennedy, a director with Innocence Canada, in the release. “Tomorrow will be an extraordinary day for him, to be back in the very same court where he was wrongly convicted.”

James Lockyer, also a director with Innocence Canada, who is assisting Kennedy with the case, said Innocence Canada “is privileged to be able to help Mr. Woodhouse and we will be there for him at his release hearing.”

The Crown attorney who prosecuted the 1974 case is George Dangerfield, who now has the reputation for most wrongful convictions in Canada. Aside from Allan Woodhouse and Brian Anderson, Dangerfield served as the Crown in other high-profile murder convictions now deemed wrongful convictions including: Thomas Sophonow, James Driskell, Kyle Unger and Frank Ostrowski.

In February, Lametti referred the case of Robert Sanderson, who was convicted of three counts of first degree murder in 1997 in a case Dangerfield was also involved in, back to the Manitoba Court of Appeal.

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca

Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter

Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. She has worked at newspapers across Canada, including the National Post and the Toronto Star. She joined the Free Press in 2022. Read more about Katrina.

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