Steven Truscott gets $6.5 Million for Wrongful Conviction

Lynne Harper's brother said the $6.5 million being paid to Steven Truscott, the man wrongfully convicted of killing his 12-year-old sister, is "a real travesty," according to a media report.

Barry Harper told the Globe and Mail in an interview published Tuesday that the idea of the compensation is so hard to take that he does not plan on breaking the news to his father, Leslie, who is in his 90s and lives in a nursing home.

Steven Truscott, who spent 10 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder of schoolmate Lynne Harper was awarded $6.5-million compensation from the Ontario government.

After announcing the award yesterday, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said "It is my hope that Mr. Truscott and his family will now be able to spend all of their time on the rest of life's journey."

Mr. Truscott called the compensation "bittersweet".

My long-held conviction has been that capital punishment has no place in modern society. The Steven Truscott case further confirmed my conviction in this regard. This story, of his wrongful conviction, was a tragedy. It would have been an even worse tragedy if he was hanged for a crime he did not commit.

No amount of money can compensate for what Steven Truscott went through -- trying for 48 years to clear his name in a sex slaying he did not commit; facing a death sentence at the age of fourteen after a closed trial that violated every precept of due process, and despite forensic evidence that didn't even amount to probable cause let alone proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Who is Stephen Truscott? He is a Canadian man who spent more than a decade in prison for a murder he did not commit. He has been a convicted murderer since he was just 14 years old. And now, because he was wrongfully convicted, his payout will be $6.5 Million.