Steven Truscott was scheduled to be hanged; however, the federal cabinet reprieved him and he was sentenced to life in prison and released on parole in 1969.
22 Facts About Steven Truscott
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Five decades later, in 2007, his conviction was overturned on the basis that key forensic evidence was weaker than had been portrayed at trial, and key evidence in favor of Steven Truscott was concealed from his defense team.
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Steven Truscott was the youngest person in Canada to face execution.
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Steven Truscott had one older brother, Barry Harper, who lived in Ohio, and a younger brother, Jeffrey.
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Steven Truscott's father was a school teacher before he joined the military in 1940.
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Steven Truscott has maintained since 1959 that he took Harper to the intersection of the County Road and Highway 8, where he left her unharmed.
7.
Steven Truscott maintains that when he arrived at the bridge, he looked back toward the intersection where he had dropped Harper off and observed that a vehicle had stopped and that she was in the process of entering it.
8.
Steven Truscott has now been cleared and was provided $6.5 million dollars in reparations.
9.
Steven Truscott was represented by Frank Donnelly; Glen Hays appeared for the Crown.
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On that date, Steven Truscott did not have an automatic right to appeal to this court.
11.
From his arrest until the commutation of his death sentence, Steven Truscott was imprisoned at the Huron County Gaol in Goderich.
12.
Steven Truscott was transferred on May 7,1967 to the Farm Annex of Collins Bay Penitentiary.
13.
On October 21,1969, Steven Truscott was released on parole and lived in Kingston with his parole officer and then in Vancouver for a brief period before settling in Guelph under an assumed name.
14.
On November 12,1974, Steven Truscott was relieved of the terms and conditions of his parole by the National Parole Board.
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That evidence included the testimony of Steven Truscott, who had not testified at the 1959 trial.
16.
New forensic evidence was presented on his behalf, and Steven Truscott testified before the Supreme Court of Canada, telling his story for the first time.
17.
Steven Truscott maintained a low profile until 2000, when an interview on CBC Television's investigative news program The Fifth Estate revived interest in his case.
18.
Together with a subsequent book by journalist Julian Sher, they suggested that evidence in favour of Steven Truscott's innocence had been ignored in the original trial.
19.
Steven Truscott's conviction was brought to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on June 19,2006.
20.
Steven Truscott's original estimates and draft autopsy reports were concealed from the defence and the court.
21.
Many, including Harper's family, have never thought that Steven Truscott was innocent of the murder, and in July 2008 Harper's brother described Steven Truscott's compensation package as "a real travesty" and indicated he would not inform their father for fear the news would upset him.
22.
Canadian rock band Blue Rodeo recorded a song, "Steven Truscott", which referenced the case, on their 2000 album The Days in Between.