Joyce Milgaard 'delighted' by report recommendations

The call for a new agency in Canada to review alleged cases of wrongful conviction was enthusiastically endorsed Friday by the central figures in the David Milgaard saga.

Milgaard was convicted in 1970 of the murder of Gail Miller in Saskatoon and spent 23 years in prison. He was eventually cleared in the case, in part because of DNA evidence, and another man was convicted.

A commission of inquiry, appointed by the Saskatchewan government, released its report into Milgaard's wrongful conviction on Friday. One of the recommendations in the report is that the federal government create an independent body to review allegations of wrongful conviction. The report notes that if such a body already existed, Milgaard might have been released from jail years before he actually was.

"I'm delighted that we are finally getting recommendations for an independent board," Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard, told a news conference in Saskatoon shortly after the Saskatchewan government released the commission of inquiry report.

"It will be worthwhile," she said. "Everything our family has gone through, if we now, if we really follow through and get this independent board."

Although the commission report was sometimes critical of news reports on the Milgaard case, Joyce Milgaard had nothing but praise for the media.

"Without you, the media, I wouldn't be here today. David wouldn't be out of prison today. You guys did a terrific job and I'm so appreciative of it."

Joyce Milgaard thanks media

Milgaard said she was hurt by comments in the report that her efforts were sometimes counterproductive. She told reporters that she did what she believed was necessary.

Hersh Wolch, David Milgaard's lawyer, told reporters after the release of the commission of inquiry report that he was encouraged that the Saskatchewan government was supportive of the recommendation for an independent review body.

Wolch also provided an explanation for why his client was not present for the release of the report.

"He is not here simply because it reawakens memories that cause him tremendous distress," Wolch said, adding Milgaard's conviction and 23-year long imprisonment was a "horrible, horrible" time.

"He would be here if he could be here. But the repercussions are just too high."

Wolch said Milgaard, 56, who lives in Calgary with his wife and two young children, was "very pleased" with the recommendation for a review agency.

"He understands that there are others like him, in terms of being innocent within the [justice] system," Wolch said. "He hopes that the review board will allow those people to have access to justice."

'It's over': says Saskatchewan minister of justice

The government of Saskatchewan appointed Alberta Judge Edward MacCallum to head the Milgaard inquiry on Feb. 18, 2004. Although the cost was originally estimated at around $2 million, expenses ballooned to over $10 million by the time hearings concluded in December 2006. MacCallum signed off on his report on Sept. 10, 2008.

Justice Minister Don Morgan released the 815-page report on Friday and said he accepted the 13 recommendations made by the commissioner "in principle."

"The system failed," Morgan said. "We can and will take steps to make sure that this will not happen again.

"I apologized to [David Milgaard] now," Morgan added, "And the government has apologized to him before. And I don't think that apologies are ever enough in that type of a situation. It's a terrible thing for anyone to go through. And if this inquiry has one benefit, that benefit is that we've learned enough about the process and the procedure that we can prevent one more individual from being wrongly convicted and serving time."