Driskell prosecutor knew witness lied at 1991 murder trial

The man who prosecuted James Driskell for murder in 1991 said Monday that he knew a key witness had lied on the stand, but did not act to correct it.

At the Winnipeg inquiry into Driskell's wrongful conviction for the murder of Perry Dean Harder, retired Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield testified that he knew some of the testimony from Ray Zanidean was false.

The inquiry, which started July 17, has already heard how Zanidean, an important yet controversial witness for the Crown, was paid tens of thousands of dollars and negotiated a secret immunity deal with police in exchange for his testimony at the murder trial.

Dangerfield told the inquiry he didn't know much about any deals until a few days before the trial, when Zanidean's lawyer threatened to tell his client not to testify unless Manitoba Justice met all of his demands.

'Brinkmanship going on'

Michael Code, the counsel for the commission of inquiry,asked Dangerfield on Monday what he did in response to Zanidean's lawyer's comments.

"Was it your duty now that you knew there was brinkmanship going on there was a demand, there was a precondition to testifying was it your duty to find out what that was and disclose it?" Code asked at the inquiry.

"I suppose it was, but I just didn't think of it, I guess," Dangerfield replied.

Code referred to transcripts from the 1991 trial where Zanidean lied about receiving certain benefits from the government, including moving expenses and mortgage payments.

Dangerfield answered affirmatively when Code asked him if he knew some of Zanidean's testimony was false.

When asked by Code why he didn't correct his witness's sworn testimony, Dangerfield replied that he didn't know.

"You had a duty to get to the bottom of this and find out the true facts and you didn't do it, isn't that correct?" Code asked Dangerfield.

Sighing, Dangerfield said, "I don't know what prompted me to leave that matter untouched."

When Code asked Dangerfield why he did not take steps to correct the testimony, Dangerfield replied, "I think the trial was finishing. We went right on to the end from there. I don't know why I didn't go over it."

12 years in prison

Driskell was sentenced to life in prison for his first-degree murder conviction for the 1990 killing of Harder. The conviction was quashed bythen justice minister Irwin Cotler in 2005 after Driskell had spent 12 years in prison.

Cotler cited several reasons for his decision, including new DNA evidence that showed hairs found in Driskell's van did not belong to the victim the Crown had argued at trial that they did as well as problems with key witnesses and a lack of disclosure of information that could have helped Driskell's defence.

The Manitoba government then stayed the charges against Driskell, which keeps him out of prison but does not officially exonerate him.

The inquiry is probing the role of police, the actions of the Crown and questions of disclosure in the case. The inquiry's commissioner has also been asked to determine when someone has met the threshold to be declared factually innocent or wrongly convicted.

Second time questioned

The Driskell inquiry marks the second time Dangerfield and two other Crown prosecutors have been questioned about withholding evidence in a murder trial.

A 2001 inquiry into Thomas Sophonow's wrongful conviction found they had failed to disclose information about the questionable credibility of their witnesses.

The final report of that inquiry concluded: "This was a serious error on the part of the Crown .... The error contributed significantly to the wrongful conviction."

Sophonow spent nearly four years in jail for the 1981 murder of Winnipeg teenager Barbara Stoppel. In 2000, police and government officials apologized and compensated him.

Now, Sophonow has been sitting through the last few weeks of Driskell's wrongful conviction inquiry, in support of James Driskell.