Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 17, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Magazine Fri jink 2001 b3 lawyer Randy Mcnicol right questions retired Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield at four key eyewitnesses were shown a lineup which included soph now standing a full head taller than anyone those witnesses were unable to positively identify one of those John Doerksen a Christ Mas tree Salesman who claimed he chased the killer and wrestled with him on the Norwood Bridge testified at the inquiry that a police officer pointed to soph now during a he said in talking to you and its not going to leave this in going to Tell you who the Guy is and he pointed to said that David took the stand at the inquiry and insisted Doerksen was but other witnesses at the inquiry supported Doerksen allegation that police were manipulating another key Norman testified that Winnipeg police Ken Biener told him hed picked the right Guy when he tentatively identified both of Sopho nows defence lawyers say they were Given no indication from police or prosecutors that the identifications had been tampered manipulation and there was More the Day after the Doerksen was picked up by police for failing to pay an outstanding Fine from an assault while in the Public safety Doerksen was led past soph now in a hallway but was still unable to positively identify him As the he was then taken to an adjoin ing cell where he was again shown but even after the lineups and orchestrated Doerksen would Tell police he was Only 90 per cent sure soph now was the Man he defence lawyers were never told of Doerksen at Doerksen and the other Eye witnesses displayed a newfound Confidence in their testimony All said they were positive soph now was the cow boy Pollack said eyewitnesses at Sopho nows preliminary hearing Testi fied they saw the killer leave the doughnut shop around 8 when witnesses and Telephone records were produced to show soph now could not have been at the doughnut shop at 8 Crown witness testimony began to for Lor Raine Janower testified at the first trial that she initially saw the Cowboy killer leave the doughnut shop at 8 at the second she had the suspect leave at or by the third Janower nor said it was Actu ally closer to i w3s some eyewitnesses treated even testified they saw soph now leave horridly by the shop As late As the police and the another Ine Barb was Crown and nursing a sick car and want to a hungry child at the Pembina Highway 1118 Canadian tire store in whole the Early evening of december she and her Anness daughter struck up a Joan Barrett conversation with soph now who was also waiting for his car to be Peasegood initially told police she got Home at and that soph now was still at the garage when she but when she testified at she said she got Home at challenged other witnesses who supported Sopho nows Alibi were never revealed to the defence or were harassed by officers who aggressively challenged their Susan a University student and Par time Safeway told police a Man fitting Sopho nows description purchased the stockings from her in two instalments and said they were going to sick Chil police never followed and Barb a childlike coordinator at Boniface general Testi fied at the inquiry that she gave a statement to police in 1982 about Stock Ings being delivered to the childrens Ward in she even located one of the red mesh stockings pinned to the bedpost of a sick girl and handed it Over to Ken Marantz statement and the which fit the description of those soph now said he bought and were never seen by the jury or defence Jeanine an Len at Misericordia told police she remembered a Man handing out Christmas stockings on the childrens Ward one night in when she gave her state Sahulka said investigators told her soph now was guilty and that her statement was either a lie or a she was never shown photos or a other witnesses who could have sup ported Sopho nows Alibi said they were thing soph now is pensive during press conference announcing his exoneration last summer in the Barbara Stoppel scared Erma Grabowsky declined to come Forward until last Grabowsky told the inquiry she and her husband were visiting her daughter at Victoria general Hospital on december when they stepped out to get a they were greeted at the elevator by a scruffy Man wearing boots and a cow boy hat and carrying two bags of Christmas Grabowsky Testi fied it was exactly she said she kept her Story to herself because she feared she would be treated harshly by police and one of the most compelling Alibi wit Nesses subjected to disbelieving investigators was Ester the Misericordia Hospital inter viewed Early in the original i Vestiga said she remember a Man delivering stockings to her but soph now testified he gave a stocking to a nurse who had a son named Philip and Navoa had a son by that after testifying against soph now at his first two plagued by her told her Boss How shed lied about the Man with the stockings to avoid getting in trouble at before the third Navoa told police she did remember the Cowboy with the investigators accused Navoa of being bribed by the defence to change her she was never called As a witness at the third trial and Sopho nows lawyer insists he was never told about her none of the witnesses had a harder ride than Joan a Par time Ward clerk from Victoria general hos a Surprise defence wit Ness called near the end of the second testified that she talked to a Man Matching Sopho nows description at Victoria Hospital Between and although she was not positive it was she said she was dead sure about the timing of her Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield turned to Ken Biener and loud enough for reporters to who the is that Biener shrugged and i dont Twenty years after the Stoppel Barrett told the inquiry How she was vilified in court and in the Media for her decision to testify and How she was attacked on the stand As a i was treated horribly by the police and the Crown and i want to forget the whole but Crown prosecutors who pursued Joan Barrett soph now through three trials were not going to let their Case rest solely on the shoulders of shaky without physical evidence to tie soph now to the Dangerfield turned to the prosecutors Best Friend the Jailhouse Greg Brodsky said the Crown Assem bled a Pool of about 11 informants for Sopho nows second and third one informant who did Thomas was forced to admit in a voir dire at Sopho nows third trial that police had swept aside More than two dozen charges of false pretences and Possession of goods obtained by at the time of his he was also facing Immi Gration the jury would never hear the details of Chengos agreement with the Crown the rules of evidence used at Sopho nows trials rendered this information Cheng said he approached police of his own not because he wanted to Cut a Deal to get his charges but because he was disgusted by the Stoppel he confessed that he killed Stoppel because she would not participate in a robbery of the doughnut Adrian a Jailhouse informant who testified against soph now at his third was pressured by Winnipeg police into testifying in after his arrest in a Well known police offered to go into the same remand Centre cell As soph now to collect Mcquade told police that soph now admitted to being in Winnipeg at the time of the murder but did not despite his Mcquade had not been Able to get the goods on taped the inquiry heard that before Sopho nows third two police officers who had regular Contact with Mcquade taped a conversation during which he offered information on five soph now want among so with Sopho nows third trial police told Mcquade they wanted him to testify and when he they gave him an ultimatum testify for the Crown or they would play his taped conversation at Sopho nows so to avoid being exposed As a Street Mcquade took the stand in he testified that soph now had confessed the same confession that Back in 1982 he said soph now never according to Legal Aid Billing records submitted at the Mcquade received and had rape charges dropped in Exchange for his none of the snitches could match Douglas a Stony Mountain inmate who worked with soph now in the prison Martin said soph now admitted hed killed Stoppel but was going to beat the what the jury didst know was that Martin had told similar stories at three other murder in the past 20 years he has established himself As one of Canadas most notorious he has participated in nine murder Tri gaining the nickname father con Stu Whitley 111 Crown counsel Stu who took Over the third trial from argued throughout Sopho nows 1985 trial that a senseless robbery was the motive for Stoppels Whitley even called ramp forensic scientist Sterling Bowman to testify there were no signs of sexual but As the Case wound Whitley changed direction and argued Barbara Stoppel had indeed been sexually in previous the Crown was unable to produce any physical or circumstantial evidence to support this Whitley ultimately called upon Colin a University of Manitoba Den Tal biologist who testified saliva found on the body and floor of the bathroom could be evidence Stoppel was forced to perform Oral sex on her however Dawes testified he could not conclusively say Oral sex caused the excess in he said peo ple who Are extremely frightened suf Fer from dry Mouth and produce less saliva than Whitley was unable to Call another witness to support his sexual assault at the Stoppels brother Rick stunned the courtroom when he took the stand and alleged that Whitley and Ken Biener cooked up the sexual assault theory knowing they lacked evidence to Back it Rick Stoppel told the inquiry the men approached him with the idea and said presenting the jury with a sexual assault motive would secure a conviction against in his closing address at Sopho nows third Whitley portrayed soph now As a powder Keg of frustration that erupted when he forced Stoppel to perform Oral when she didst satisfy he strangled soph now was once again found this the jury would take 52 hours to reach its a record deliberation at the and it would require removal of Frances the Lone juror who refused to find soph now she was dismissed by Justice Benjamin Hewak when her Fel jurors accused her of mental inst Sopho nows Challenge of that verdict was embraced by the Manitoba court of in their review of the Appeal justices found numerous mis takes in improper interviewing techniques and mishandling of witness in their written Deci the Appeal panel slammed Whit Ley for attempting to introduce the sexual assault despite Crown attempts to suggest there is not a particle of Evi Dence of sexual involvement Between Stoppel and her they the Appeal judges criticism of the Case foreshadowed the questions and issues that would be raised at Sopho nows judicial inquiry some 15 years the evidence of identification was thoroughly unreliable and that of Opportunity and motive wrote Justice Kerr i have con Cerns As to the manner in which the accused was questioned by there Are so Many instances of misdirection that i find the reasonableness of the Jurys verdict to be a somewhat hypothetical Arnold perhaps the most troubling evidence that emerged at Sopho nows wrongful conviction inquiry concerns Terry after Winnipeg police reopened Stoppels murder Case in Arnold emerged As the new prime a career Arnold was recently granted a new trial in his 1999 first degree murder conviction for the beating death of a he has spent time in prison for a number of sexual assaults and is a suspect in a string of unsolved murders across Canada and the in Arnold was a Small time Hood living just Steps away from the Ideal donuts Days after the Mur police were told Arnold tried to visit Stoppel As she Lay dying in Hospi a week police received a tip that Arnold resembled the composite drawing and should be the inquiry heard that Arnold was interviewed at least four times by Winnipeg police in the Early Days of the investigation and had been in the Dominion shopping Centre where the Ideal donuts shop is located on the Day of the Arnold admitted he knew Stoppel and had a crush on he also told police he wore a cow boy hat and on the night of the Arnold told police hed spent the evening at a Portage Avenue Salisbury staff said Arnold had been in the restaurant that but they were unable to say exactly when he three times during the investigation Arnold provided police with information about possible suspects and even offered to become an informant against Ken Biener told the inquiry he thinks Arnold simply slipped through the i i i Over the last two Thomas soph now has Pur sued his innocence with a fierce and unwavering deter Hes written countless let ters and called numerous he wanted a full and Public exoneration and a judicial inquiry into what went wrong in his he received All that in june when Winnipeg police chief Jack Swatski and attorney general Gord Mackintosh announced he was innocent and that police were pursuing another Sopho nows judicial inquiry was called the same in order to uncover the the inquiry has Laid Bare Sopho nows Pri vate demons and personal doctors and psychologists agree he will forever be haunted by his time in jail and the 17year struggle to prove his questions for the Stoppel the process has left More questions than for 20 they believed soph now was the Man who killed they had a target for their hatred and then almost they were asked to View soph now not As a brutal but As a living victim of the same crime that stole Barbara from the inquiry has also left the Stoppels shocked by the countless examples of Tunnel vision and sloppiness that landed an innocent Man in jail and left the real killer free to roam the the inquiry has turned the strict sys tem of seniority within the police ser vice on its insiders say the original investigators didst take kindly to the fact that Les experienced cops were charged with re investigating Stoppels murder in and senior cops bristled when those Young investigators suggested there were serious problems with the initial now its up to retired supreme court of Canada Justice Peter Cory to decide How much compensation soph now should receive for his Sopho nows lawyer has asked for Between and the province suggested some How Cory will have to decide what is Cory will also make recommendations for police and prosecutions departments to prevent a similar its Only infrequently that the Opportunity arises to do something that May be of tremendous Benefit to the administration of Justice and the Community and our great Cory said on the first Day of the inquiry last this May be one of those Al ;