Miscarriage of justice 'reasonable' in Ostrowski case

A lawyer charged with reviewing a Manitoba man's application to reopen his murder case after 23 years in prison says there's "a reasonable basis" to believe he was wrongfully convicted, CBC News has learned.

Stanley Frank Ostrowski, now in his late 50s, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1987 for ordering the execution of Robert Nieman, a police informant.

Nieman, 22, was ambushed and shot three times in the face in September 1986. 

'I am of the opinion that there may be a reasonable basis to conclude a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.' — Halifax lawyer John Briggs

Three other men — Robert Dunkley, Jim Luzney and Jose Correia — were also charged in the slaying. Dunkley was convicted of pulling the trigger while Luzney was accused of giving the gun to him. Luzney was acquitted when Dunkley refused to testify against him.

Ostrowski has always maintained his innocence.

Court documents filed Tuesday show Ostrowski is applying for bail pending a ministerial review of his case. A hearing to set a date for the bail application is set for next Monday at 2 p.m. in a Winnipeg courtroom.

Ostrowski's lawyers, James Lockyer and Alan Libman of the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC), have filed for his release after receiving a Sept. 6 letter from a Halifax lawyer conducting the preliminary review of Ostrowski's case.

The letter is addressed to Kerry Scullion, senior counsel with the federal Justice Department's conviction review group.

In it, John Briggs writes: "I am of the opinion that there may be a reasonable basis to conclude a miscarriage of justice likely occurred." Briggs added his opinion is made notwithstanding any further investigation of Ostrowski's case.

Libman declined to speak to CBC News regarding the developments.

A Manitoba Justice spokeswoman said because the bail application was just filed Tuesday, it would take time for the department to consider its position on Ostrowski's application for bail.

For an application for ministerial review to succeed, the minister of justice must be satisfied there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred. If this requirement is met, the minister may grant one of two remedies: direction for a new trial or a referral of the matter to the Court of Appeal.

As well, the minister has the legal authority at any time prior to his decision to refer a question about an application to a Court of Appeal for its opinion.

Prosecutor criticized

Ostrowski's case was prosecuted by former Manitoba Justice lawyer George Dangerfield.

Dangerfield was the high-ranking Crown attorney in charge of trying James Driskell and Thomas Sophonow. Both men were found to have been wrongfully convicted.

Documents filed in December 2006 by AIDWYC during the public inquiry into Driskell's wrongful conviction show Lockyear and Libman questioned Dangerfield's conduct.

"Mr. Dangerfield handled as many as a third of the homicide prosecutions in Winnipeg in the 1980s and the 1990s … no other prosecutor in Canada has been shown to have prosecuted two wrongful convictions, and likely a third in the pending case of Kyle Unger," the lawyers wrote.

Unger's conviction for killing Manitoba teenager Brigitte Grenier was overturned in March.

Unger was convicted, along with another man, of first-degree murder following the death of Grenier, 16, at the outdoor concert near Roseisle, Man., in June 1990. Grenier had been beaten, strangled and sexually mutilated.

Manitoba Justice has not made public any decision to retry Unger or stay the charges against him.

In the 2006 documents, AIDWYC accused Manitoba Justice of being complacent about reviewing all of Dangerfield's cases.

"The justice system should not depend on a non-governmental organization like AIDWYC to 'solve' the cases," Libman and Lockyer said.

The lawyers called for the establishment of an independent and "properly funded" body to review outstanding Dangerfield cases AIDWYC had taken on.

The province responded by retaining retired Ontario Justice Roger Salhany to review the Dangerfield prosecutions. His first task will be reviewing Ostrowski's case.

In a 2007 interview with the Canadian Press, Salhany said his review will focus on disclosure.

"The issue is whether there was information that should have been disclosed to the defence that might have reasonably affected the verdict of the jury," Salhany said.