Thomas Sophonow Explained

Thomas Sophonow (born March 1953[1]) is a Canadian who was wrongfully convicted of murder and whose case was the subject of a major judicial inquiry. Sophonow was tried three times in the 1981 murder of doughnut-shop clerk Barbara Stoppel. Sophonow spent four years imprisoned. In 1985, he was acquitted by the Manitoba Court of Appeal.[2] A commission of inquiry was called by the province of Manitoba which led to the 2001 release of the Thomas Sophonow Inquiry Report.[3] [4] [5] This inquiry was led by former Supreme Court justice Peter Cory. As a result of this report, Manitoba revised its policy of using prisoners in-custody as informants. This policy is located at Appendix F of the report.[6] The inquiry also made 43 recommendations of which 11 related to the Province of Manitoba.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Thomas Sophonow's background. Government of Manitoba. 2011-09-02.
  2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/08/06/f-wrongfully-convicted.html#sophonow Canada's wrongful convictions - Cases where the courts got it wrong
  3. http://forejustice.org/db/Sophonow--Thomas.html Wrongly Convicted Database Record
  4. https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2000/06/2000-06-08-02.html Province Calls Commission of Inquiry into Thomas Sophonow Case
  5. https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2001/11/2001-11-05-05.html Sophonow Inquiry Report Released
  6. https://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/publications/sophonow/index.html? Thomas Sophonow Inquiry Report