HALIFAX – The lawyer for a man wrongfully convicted of statutory rape in 1970 says his client plans to seek an appeal of a court ruling that cleared the RCMP of any wrongdoing.
Dale Dunlop says his client, Gerald Barton, is disappointed with the decision, delivered last Thursday by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge James Chipman.
Chipman concluded there was nothing wrong with the way the Mounties investigated the case, saying the RCMP interviewed the right people and properly obtained an incriminating statement from Barton, then 19.
The judge also decided Barton’s rights had not been breached even though there had been a miscarriage of justice and no compensation from the province or police.
Chipman said Barton did not provide any evidence in his lawsuit that the defendants caused him serious psychological harm beyond the “ordinary stress” that comes with litigation.
Dunlop says he has yet to determine the grounds of an appeal.
Barton’s conviction was quashed by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 2011 after the complainant recanted her story and DNA testing proved her brother was to blame for impregnating her in 1969.
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