Romeo Phillion can sue for wrongful conviction, top court says
Canada's top court dismisses appeal, giving man the go-ahead to sue
The longest-serving inmate in Canada to have a murder conviction quashed can sue those involved in his prosecution after Canada's top court declined to hear an appeal that sought to block his lawsuit.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed with costs the appeal on Thursday, but did not give reasons for the decision.
In doing so the top court upheld an earlier Ontario Court of Appeal decision from July that said it would be wrong to deny Romeo Phillion a chance at a civil lawsuit against Ottawa police and the Crown.
Phillion was convicted in 1972 and spent more than 31 years behind bars for the murder of an Ottawa firefighter.
In 2009, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial because police and the Crown failed to disclose an important piece of evidence.
Phillion then sued, but an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled too much time had passed and the prosecution had not acted with malice. That decision was overturned by the appeal court.
The Supreme Court's decision means there are no other ways to challenge Phillion's desire to sue the police and Crown.
With files from Canadian Press