Closer to exoneration

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This article was published 25/11/2014 (3685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FRANK Ostrowski is another step closer toward clearing his name of a 1987 murder conviction.

Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay asked Manitoba’s highest court on Tuesday to review the tactics used by prosecutors to convict Ostrowski of the drug-related slaying of Robert Nieman on Sept. 25, 1986.

“I am satisfied there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in Mr. Ostrowski’s 1987 conviction,” MacKay said in a statement.

Besides giving the now-65-year-old Ostrowski a rare second chance at being cleared of a murder conviction, MacKay’s decision to refer the matter to the Appeal Court is also seen as a rebuke of Manitoba Justice, which is now dealing with its fourth case in which an accused claimed to be unfairly prosecuted of murder.

“It doesn’t take long to put somebody in, but it takes a long time to change things,” Ostrowski said outside court.

James Lockyer of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) said MacKay’s decision followed years of behindthe- scenes work that show the Crown and police did not disclose two critical pieces of evidence at Ostrowski’s trial.

“It was evidence that completely undermined their sole witness who was able to attribute Mr. Nieman’s murder to Frank,” Lockyer said.

AIDWYC has represented Ostrowski since 2002. A hearing date for Ostrowski at the Appeal Court has not been set. He was first granted bail in December 2009, when he was released from prison after 23 years behind bars.

Ostrowski, a former hairstylist-turned-drug dealer, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested in Nieman’s killing. He was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole for 25 years. The Crown argued at trial Ostrowski feared Nieman “ratted” on him to police about his cocaine operation and ordered his execution.

Two other men were found guilty of Nieman’s killing in Winnipeg. Robert Dunkley was convicted of pulling the trigger and continues to serve a life sentence in another province. JosLuis Correia was granted a “faint hope” release in 2008 and was later deported to his native Portugal. A fourth man, Jim Luzny, was also arrested, but charges against him were dropped.

In 1994, Ostrowski was convicted of the charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, which he was facing at the time of Nieman’s murder. He got a 15-year sentence concurrent to his life sentence.

Since his release on bail five years ago, Ostrowski has worked as a custom-belt maker, hair stylist and for the John Howard Society. He has not become re-involved with police.

In the investigative process leading up to MacKay’s decision, Manitoba Justice officials agreed the evidence should have been disclosed at trial. Officials also acknowledged the nondisclosure affected Ostrowski’s right to a full defence.

The two pieces of evidence the Crown withheld — retired Crown attorney George Dangerfield was lead prosecutor and Sidney Lerner, now a provincial court judge, was his assistant — include a secret deal key witness Matthew Lovelace made with federal authorities to testify against Ostrowski in exchange for getting a cocaine-trafficking charge against him dropped so he wouldn’t go to jail.

Lovelace and Dangerfield denied at Ostrowski’s trial such a deal had been made.

‘I am satisfied there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in Mr. Ostrowski’s 1987 conviction’

— Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay

Lockyer said the offer should have been disclosed so jurors had a full picture of Lovelace’s credibility.

“Their case against Frank was pretty simplistic — it was Matthew Lovelace. He was their case,” Lockyer said. “We have I think now found out that what was presented to us in his form was a fraud, a fraud on the court and a fraud on Frank Ostrowski.”

AIDWYC also discovered an internal Winnipeg police report, which it says helped show Ostrowski was not involved in Nieman’s murder, was also withheld from the defence.

That report involves a Sept. 24, 1986, phone call to police in which a man, who identified himself as Sonny, said, “Frank has a contract out on my friend.”

“Sonny” was later identified as Lovelace, the only person to give direct evidence against Ostrowski at trial, and he identified a different person — not Nieman — as the intended target. The officer who took the call prepared a report on the call, but it was never disclosed to Ostrowski’s lawyer at the time, Greg Brodsky.

It was learned later Lovelace had informed on Ostrowski, telling police where Ostrowski kept his cocaine hidden in a safe.

 

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca