Ontario's top court orders new trial for Phillion

A new trial has been ordered for Romeo Phillion as Ontario's top court struck down his murder conviction for the 1967 stabbing of Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy.

The Ontario Court of Appeal, in ordering the trial, said Thursday it could not grant the acquittal Phillion was seeking.

Despite the fact that he has not yet received an acquittal, Phillion was pleased with the ruling. "It’s a dream come true," he said outside court. "I’m happy. What else can I say?"

Both the Crown and Phillion's lawyers have said there would be no point in trying him again for a homicide that took place more than 40 years ago.

The province's attorney general must now decide whether to stay or withdraw the charge.

The prosecution could also decide to arraign Phillion anew but offer no evidence — which would lead to an automatic acquittal.

In the ruling, Justice Michael Moldaver said previously unheard evidence, in particular information about Phillion's alibi at the time of the crime, "could have left the jury in a state of reasonable doubt about the appellant's guilt."

Justice John Laskin, another judge on the three-member panel, supported that view.

But the ruling was not unanimous. In his dissent, Justice James MacPherson noted "a full review of the evidence must include the singular fact that the appellant confessed to the murder of Leopold Roy."

"Thirty-seven years later, the appellant's confession remains … as compelling today as it was to the jury in 1972," MacPherson said. "The proposed fresh evidence does not change this picture."

In 1972, Phillion boasted to police that he had killed Roy, and while he took it back almost immediately, he spent 31 years in prison before he was freed on bail in 2003 pending his appeal court hearing.