Federal Attorney General orders new trial for two men convicted of murder in 1974

Federal Attorney General David Lametti on Thursday ordered a new trial for two Indigenous men convicted of murder 49 years ago by an all-white jury in Winnipeg.

Lametti cited unspecified new evidence in his decision to order a new trial for Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, who were sentenced to life in prison after the death of Ting Fong Chan, a restaurant worker who was fatally stabbed in 1973 .

“Following a thorough review of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse’s case, I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis for concluding that a miscarriage of justice is likely,” Lametti said in a press release.

Jerome Kennedy, a lawyer for the two men, said his clients were pleased with the news and hoped the Crown would now decide not to launch a new trial.

“We expect that when they appear in court in Winnipeg in the coming weeks, the case will be concluded,” Kennedy said in an interview from St. John’s, NL

“These two young men, who were 17 and 18 years old when they were convicted, have always maintained their innocence throughout that 49-year period. They have never given up hope.”

The men appealed to higher courts shortly after their conviction, but were rejected.

In recent years, they have filed applications for a review of criminal convictions by the Federal Attorney General and have been supported by Innocence Canada, an organization that fights against wrongful convictions. Kennedy is one of the group’s directors.

The men’s convictions were largely based on a signed confession Anderson made to police. But lawyers have said Anderson did not know what he was signing and that English was not his first language.

On a US podcast last year, Anderson said he signed a piece of paper that he believed was a receipt for his personal belongings that he handed in at his arrest.

Anderson was paroled in 1987 and Woodhouse in 1990. No dates have been set for when the two will next appear in a Manitoba court.

Lametti introduced a law in February that would make changes to how people who may have been wrongfully convicted can have their cases reviewed.

The bill reached second reading in the House of Commons before MPs stood up for the summer.

If the bill passes, lawyers say reviews could happen more quickly by creating an independent commission that would decide when criminal cases should be returned to the justice system.

At present, the assessment of a wrongful conviction takes between two and six years and the decision rests with the Minister of Justice.

Anderson had filed for criminal conviction review in 2019 and Woodhouse in 2020.

The proposed new system would aim to speed up the process by allowing more people to devote themselves to reviewing files.