APTN National News
TORONTO–An Anishinabe man has been awarded $4.25 million in compensation from the Ontario government for being wrongfully convicted of killing his four-year-old niece on testimony from disgraced pathologist Charles Smith.
Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley announced the compensation Thursday and apologized to William Mullins-Johnson for the “miscarriage of justice.”
Mullins-Johnson, who lived in Toronto, spent 12 years in prison before an Ontario Court of Appeal exonerated him in October 2007 after it was determined the child, named Valin, died of natural causes. The court found there was no evidence of any crime.
Mullins-Johnson was convicted in 1994 on evidence provided by Smith who claimed that the child had been raped and strangled.
“On behalf of the Government of Ontario, I offer my deepest and most sincere apologies to Mr. Mullins-Johnson and his family for the miscarriage of justice that occurred and the pain they had to endure. Mr. Mullins-Johnson has been working hard to rebuild his life and we wish him well as he continues that process,” said Bentley, in a statement.
Smith needs to go to jail!