Glen Asssoun spent the next 16 years and eight months behind bars, where he suffered beatings, multiple heart attacks and developed mental health problems for a murder he did not commit.

Here's a look back at some of the biggest stories that mattered to Maritimers over the past 12 months.

Glen Assoun was acquitted of the second-degree murder of Brenda Way on March 1 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court after spending 17 years in federal prison and 52 months on bail.

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey said Thursday the agreement for an undisclosed amount of financial help for Glen Assoun has been finalized and the cheque will be available within days.

Sean MacDonald says he and lawyer Phil Campbell are in talks with officials in the federal and provincial justice departments aimed at getting financial help for Glen Assoun.

Glen Assoun was convicted in 1999 of the knifing murder of Brenda Way four years earlier. The 63-year-old man spent almost 17 years in prison and over four years on bail before being exonerated earlier.

Despite his ruling, the commissioner emphasized that he has no ability to control the potential perception of a conflict of interest.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says an outside probe is needed to examine why RCMP destroyed an investigator's research on other suspects in the lead-up to Glen Assoun's unsuccessful 2006 appeal.

Last week, a judge found Oland not guilty of the bloody 2011 murder of his wealthy father in Saint John - the culmination of six years of legal wrangling.

Canada's justice system is sometimes guilty of significant errors too easily made, Roy Green says.