Justice Minister Arif Virani has announced that Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie, two men convicted of second-degree murder in 1984 in New Brunswick, will be granted a new trial. The decision was based on the belief that “there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating wrongful conviction cases, has been working with Mailman and Gillespie for the past two decades. The men were sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for 18 years for the killing of George Gilman Leaman, a plumber in Saint John.
The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick dismissed Mailman and Gillespie’s appeals in 1988. Walter Gillespie sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1994 but was denied. Both men spent 18 years in prison and are currently on parole.
Mailman and Gillespie submitted their application for a criminal conviction review in December 2019. The Department of Justice stated that new and significant information, not presented during the original trials or appeals, raised doubts about the fairness of the process.
Ron Dalton, co-president of Innocence Canada, highlighted misconduct in testimony, the failure to investigate alternate and better suspects, and a lack of disclosure as factors contributing to the errors made in the case.
Leaman was killed on November 28, 1983, and the two men were charged with beating him to death, dousing him in gasoline, and setting him on fire. The jogger discovered Leaman’s body in Rockwood Park. The wrongful conviction case gained attention due to the solid alibi that Mailman and Gillespie had, indicating they were not in Saint John at the time of the homicide.
Dalton, who himself was wrongfully convicted and spent time in the same prison as Mailman and Gillespie, expressed satisfaction that their case has finally been overturned after 39 years. Gillespie is now 80 years old, and Mailman, who has terminal cancer, is 76. Innocence Canada hopes the new trial will restore the presumption of innocence for the two men, shifting the onus onto the Crown to prove their guilt.
