Decades after he was hanged for murder in Quebec, family hopes his name can finally be cleared
Wilbert Coffin's guilt has remained in question since he was convicted for murder of U.S. tourist
Jim Coffin's mom wouldn't buy newspapers and kept the radio station fixed on the country music channel.
She would keep her son away from the small black-and-white TV and sneak him out of the house using the back door.
For the first 11 years of Jim's life, he had no idea reporters would stand on his lawn, waiting to ask questions about his father who was found guilty of murder in a high-profile case and subsequently executed in 1956.
He knew his father was dead, but was told he had died in a car accident. It was only on a trip back home to Gaspé, Que., when that version of events was shattered.
"Some of the kids were teasing me about my dad dying and hanging," said Jim, 77, who now lives in Sechelt, B.C.
"I just lost it… that's when my mother told me what had really happened. She said she couldn't keep me away from it any longer."
On Feb. 10, 1956, at the Bordeaux prison in Montreal, Wilbert Coffin was hanged for the murder of 17-year-old Richard E. Lindsay.
Despite his conviction, he went to his grave swearing he had nothing to do with the murder of the young American tourist.
The case captured the public's attention much like a true crime mystery, spurring theories and inspiring the publication of books, podcasts and movies — several suggesting a wrongful conviction.
Nearly 70 years later, the fight to clear Coffin's name continues as a new miscarriage of justice review commission gives his family hope.
Family had faith in the system
Three years prior to Coffin's execution, three Americans — a man, his son and a friend — went missing in the woods while out on a hunting trip in Gaspé.
Their remains, ravaged by animals, wouldn't be found for weeks.
Police turned to Coffin, who helped in the search in 1953. He became the last person known to see the men alive — and then the sole suspect
Coffin admitted to having met the men and helped them when their truck ran into mechanical problems before their disappearance. He also admitted to being in possession of some items stolen from the victims.
A jack of all trades and a prospector who knew the Gaspé woods like the back of his hand, Coffin became an "ideal suspect," says Kathryn Campbell, criminal defence lawyer and professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa.
She says former Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis likely felt the triple homicide would have a negative effect on tourism from American hunting associations.
"He needed to solve this homicide quickly," said Campbell. She doesn't represent the family, but has researched the case and produced a podcast about it.
"It just seemed like a foregone conclusion from the beginning that he was going to be convicted and he was going to be hanged and it would be a message to the Americans."
She claims the government was pushing the police for a resolution and Coffin was an obvious and "vulnerable" suspect.
The "hallmarks" of a miscarriage of justice were evident, she says — police tunnel vision, judicial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel.
"His family had faith in the system," said Campbell. "They thought, 'well, he didn't do it, so he's not going to be convicted, right?'"
The jury unanimously convicted him of the murder of the youngest victim, sentencing him to hang. Coffin was not held responsible for the death of the other two Americans.
The attempt to appeal Coffin's sentence was unsuccessful.
In 1963, Montreal journalist and politician, Jacques Hébert, published a book — J'accuse les assassins de Coffin — raising doubt on Coffin's guilt and helping launch the creation of a provincial commission to look into his conviction.
The controversy was so great that in 1964, the Brossard Commission convened to investigate the case and heard from hundreds of witnesses. It eventually determined he received a fair trial.
In 2007, amid mounting pressure from Coffin's family and supporters, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion calling for a swift investigation into the case. Nothing much came from the largely symbolic motion.
The federal Justice Department did not answer CBC's questions regarding the outcome of the investigation. In an emailed statement, it said out of respect for "individual privacy, we cannot provide any information on specific criminal conviction reviews."
Previously, the justice minister would decide if a case could be retried or sent back to a Court of Appeal if they believed a miscarriage of justice likely occurred, says Campbell.
"That was government making decisions about cases that had gone through government. So there was a conflict of interest," she said.
But a new bill passed in December 2024 looks to move the review process for cases away from the justice minister and give it to an independent commission dedicated exclusively to miscarriage of justice reviews.
Imposing a full-time chief commissioner and four to eight other full-time or part-time commissioners, the federal government says Bill C-40 will make the process easier, faster and more fair for the potentially wrongfully convicted.
In an email, the Justice Department confirmed it will be able to look at posthumous cases like Coffin's, but it declined to comment on when the commission will be established or how it might choose cases.
'You never really get over it,' says 94-year-old sister
Marie Coffin-Stewart tries to remember her older brother as a kind soul and a good cook with a sense of humour. But the way he died changed his legacy.
"You never really get over it … this has been a horrendous nightmare all my life," said Coffin-Stewart, her voice breaking.
Clasping her hands together, she said she never "dreamt that it would end as it did."
At 94 years old, Coffin-Stewart has never let up in her conviction that her brother was not what the government painted him out to be. She maintains he was a "scapegoat" and hopes that now, after all these years, Canadians will start to understand how this case was mishandled.
Coffin's lawyer did not call on any witnesses and did not have him testify.
Coffin-Stewart says her brother was transferred to Quebec City jail before his execution in Montreal.
"To say it was a shock is putting it mildly. We couldn't believe it," said Coffin-Stewart.
The last time she saw him was in prison, through a sheet of glass.
"I couldn't hug him. I couldn't hold him, touch him," said Coffin-Stewart. "The next time I saw him, he was in the casket."
One of 11 siblings, all of whom have since passed away, she says the circumstances of her brother's death haunt her.
"There's no way that he could have killed those Americans and I think it's about time that something is done and that the public should be aware," said Coffin-Stewart.
Legal non-profit hopeful new commission will help
The family's campaign to clear Coffin's name officially started when Innocence Canada connected with them about 15 years ago.
A Canadian legal non-profit organization, Innocence Canada advocates for the wrongly convicted and has helped exonerate 30 innocent people since 1993.
Director James Lockyer hopes the organization can demonstrate that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred — and provide another reminder about the dangers of the death penalty, which was abolished in Canada in 1976.
"The wind in our sails for moving the case forward as best we can is the family members," said Lockyer. "It's just a case of coming up against this locked door that we haven't been able to get in."
That locked door refers to documents from the Brossard Commission. Although it generated materials previously unavailable and interviewed people who did not testify at the trial, Lockyer says a lot of the work was placed under a ban.
"Heaven knows why this is. We're not talking about state secrets here," said Lockyer.
"I've never run into a locked door like this before and you have to say to yourself, 'why is it there in the first place?'
"Makes me highly suspicious."
Just recently, Lockyer says the organization enlisted the help of a new Quebec City lawyer to review French and English material which might help its case.
Unable to get material Lockyer thinks would enable them to challenge Coffin's conviction, he says the new federal commission — likely given subpoena and investigatory powers — will be able to obtain access.
'I don't want to die the son of a convicted murderer'
With doubt circling Coffin's conviction, several theories have popped up over the years.
A 1986 Radio-Canada report suggested several people may have seen a Jeep potentially carrying a separate group of Americans. One man told Radio-Canada he thought the licence plate looked like it was from Pennsylvania. The court did not take this into consideration.
Another theory suggests a Quebec man, Philippe Cabot, might be responsible for the triple homicide. In 2006, years after his death, his daughter Micheline Cabot told Radio-Canada that her brother admitted he was witness to their father running over one of the Americans with his car and shooting the two others with a firearm.
Micheline's brother, Jean-Gabriel, and her father, Phillippe Cabot, were both dead at the time of this revelation, which is hearsay and not receivable in court.
Jim Coffin says he wants to see his father's name cleared in his lifetime. He says some police files about the case have been sealed for 99 years. Quebec's Justice Ministry did not respond to CBC's request for clarification regarding the duration or reason behind the restrictions.
"I'm gonna live long enough to make sure that they see [the files] open," said Coffin. "If he could walk up to those gallows, I can stay around.
"I don't want to die the son of a convicted murderer."
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