A Manitoba man who spent 23 years in prison for first-degree murder has had his conviction quashed.
Three judges from the province’s Court of Appeal have ruled that Frank Ostrowski was denied important information that could have helped his defence when he was convicted in 1987.
“A sense of closure. He is glad it’s all over,” his lawyer James Lockyer told Global News from Toronto. “It’s been an extraordinary ordeal. 23 years in prison, nine years on bail.”
Ostrowski was found guilty of ordering the fatal shooting of a drug dealer based largely on the testimony of a key witness – Matthew Lovelace – who had separate charges of cocaine possession stayed in exchange.
Ostrowski’s lawyers and the jury were never told about the deal and Lovelace told the trial he did not receive any favours in exchange for his testimony.
The written decision from the Manitoba Court of Appeal said Ostrowski’s conviction should be set aside.
The judges said given the amount of time that has passed and the year’s he already spent in prison, there would be a stay of proceedings instead of a new trial.
“We would have preferred an acquittal. But it’s still very much a wrongful conviction case,” Lockyer said. “I’m disappointed there is no accountability for this 32 years, this miscarriage of justice has continued. No one is accountable for it, and that’s so often what happens in these cases.”
Earlier this year, Crown attorney Randy Schwartz told court that the trial was unfair and Ostrowski’s conviction should be overturned.
Ostrowski’s lawyer wanted the Appeal Court to go a step further and formally acquit Ostrowski, now in his late 60s.