An Ontario man who was wrongly convicted of killing his niece – in part based on evidence from disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith – will receive $4.25-million in compensation, the Ontario government announced Thursday.
William Mullins-Johnson will receive the money for the time he spent in prison wrongly convicted of raping and killing his four-year-old niece, said Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley.
“We're very sorry on behalf of the government of Ontario and the people of Ontario for the terrible pain and suffering that Mr. Mullins-Johnson has undergone,” Mr. Bentley told reporters.
“There's no amount of money that will ever make up for, or take away from, the pain and hurt over the years.”
Mr. Mullins-Johnson spent 12 years in prison for the 1993 rape and murder of his niece in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Other pathologists eventually found no evidence that Mr. Mullins-Johnson's niece had been sexually assaulted, as had been alleged. The girl's death was later attributed to natural causes.
Those facts played a major role in determining the amount of compensation for Mr. Mullins-Johnson, said Mr. Bentley.
“There are a number of different factors, one of which is the amount of time an individual spends in custody,” he said.
“One of the parts of the tragedy of this case is that Mr. Mullins-Johnson spent 12 years in custody for a crime that he did not commit. In fact there was no crime, so that was one of the factors.”
Mr. Mullins-Johnson was one of several people who were wrongly accused of killing children based on flawed evidence from Dr. Smith. He was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2007, which found there was no evidence he was guilty of any crime.
Lawyer David Robins, who represents Mr. Mullins-Johnson, said Thursday his client is pleased the case is finally coming to an end.
“No amount of money is going to fully compensate Mr. Mullins-Johnson for the hardship that he's endured, 12 years in prison and being labelled a sex offender, and that's horrible and truly unfortunate,” said Mr. Robins.
“He certainly welcomes the compensation, and no doubt he's relieved to have this ordeal put behind him.”
Opposition parties said he shouldn't have had to wait so long for compensation.
“I'm really pleased that it's over for Mr. Mullins-Johnson. It took a long time – too long in my opinion,” said Progressive Conservative critic Ted Chudleigh.
“It's sad that it's taken this long to come to this.”
The New Democrats said the government should move quickly to compensate other victims of Dr. Smith, who had conducted more than 1,000 child autopsies while at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
“There are numerous people that are still waiting that have been injured in this process that were victims of Dr. Smith, and they need to have some closure, they need to have their compensation dealt with,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
“The government just needs to sit down and negotiate those settlements and get closure for those folks.”
In 2005, an Ontario chief coroner ordered another look at 44 autopsies that had been conducted by Dr. Smith, 13 of which had resulted in criminal charges and convictions. Two years later, a report pointed to major problems with 20 of those autopsies.
A 1,000-page report from an inquiry focused largely on Dr. Smith's flawed work slammed the doctor for his roles in wrongful prosecutions.
On Wednesday, the Ontario Appeal Court ordered new trials for two women who say they felt pressured into pleading guilty to killing their babies based on Dr. Smith's work.
Mr. Mullins-Johnson, who has dropped his lawsuit against Dr. Smith and several other doctors, declined to speak with reporters Thursday.
His lawyer said Mr. Mullins-Johnson would probably keep working on social justice issues, speaking about wrongful convictions and helping families whose children are seized by Children's Aid Societies.
“More importantly I hope he'll spend as much time as he can enjoying his life because of the significant hardship he's endured,” said Mr. Robins.
“I think he should be entitled to live his life quietly and peacefully and enjoy it to the maximum that he can.”
