$13.1M wrongful conviction payout should slight past victims
If we strip away Canada’s debate coverage, the biggest news story to end this week may be that of Rejean Hinse, the Quebec man who spent five years in a federal penitentiary for a crime he didn’t commit.
Hinse, now 73, was wrongfully imprisoned in 1961 for his alleged role in an armed robbery, and his fifty-year fight to clear his name may have finally come to a close.
As announced this week, the retired pipefitter will receive a staggering $13.1 million in compensation ($4.5 million from the Quebec government; $8.6 million from the feds) for his trials and tribulations. The amount is “unprecedented,” according to The Star.
Now, the purpose of this post is not to question Hinse. Let’s get that right out in the open. His story is tragic, and he deserves any and everything our government is willing to pay for his nightmares.
But there’s sure to be a good faction of Canadians – as there was during another high-profile wrongful conviction payout case – upset about that $13.1 million figure. It’s unfortunate. It’s true.
Hinse’s case is pretty straightforward, if lengthy: in 1961, a general store owner and his wife were assaulted and robbed by five crooks, who made off with about $4,000. Hinse was incorrectly charged and jailed in the case, which landed him behind bars for much of the next three years before he was sentenced to 15 years in a federal penitentiary in 1964. He spent the next five years there – a place he likened to “hell on earth,” The Star says – until his parole in 1969. It wasn’t until 1997 that his name was fully cleared by the Supreme Court of Canada, and on Thursday it was announced he would receive $13.1 million for his five-decade saga.
If anything, Hinse’s payout isn’t unjust itself, it merely highlights how poorly other wrongfully convicted Canadians have been compensated in the past.
Saskatchewan’s David Milgaard and Ontario’s Steven Truscott both spent time in prison for supposedly raping and killing women, allegations that carry a stain much deeper than armed robbery. Milgaard, who spent 27 years in prison, received $10 million in 1999, and Truscott, who spent 10 years in prison, received $6.5 million in 2006.
So it goes, then, that this may be the angle to the Hinse compensation story no one’s discussing. If Hinse is just in receiving $13.1 million for his pain, then how does spending ten years in prison, having your friends and family think you raped and killed a 12-year-old girl, and having to live thirty of your adult years under an assumed name and anonymity – as Truscott has faced since his conviction, which originally sentenced him to hang – not deserve more?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
*Follow Jason on Twitter here.
Posted by: Trixie | Apr 17, 2021 4:52:35 PM
Sure Jan, people will always make mistakes. What percentage of the time is that, by the way? You should know. You work in the field. Please enlighten me. In my opinion, for the very LOW percentage of mistakes that COULD be made with murderers, (in YOUR opinion, not mine) I'll take my chances. Why??
Well because people LOSE their sister, mother, brother, father, etc., to someone who decided to kill, take a life. Families will suffer ALOT for the rest of their lives, needlessly, because someone sitting in jail, eating, having showers, and sleeping at night decided to take a life. I don't think that is right. Period. That DEAD, INNOCENT person does NOT get a second chance. However, the one that killed DOES get a second chance. What part of that is moral at all??
Posted by: Quyn | Apr 17, 2021 5:31:34 PM
All of those that they think that in court are the GODS, and bileve that they did rigth they should
pay for it.
Posted by: shediron | Apr 17, 2021 8:22:34 PM
I think that if we as tax payers are going to have to foot the bill, far compensation would be livable. The pay that this person could have made on the outside per year.
Posted by: Glenn | Apr 17, 2021 9:02:23 PM
There should be a system in effect that pays wrongly convicted accused. Say one million per year spent in jail. If this was the case the justice system would be more effective and accountable. Also appeals will be heard and settled more quickly because for each year the payout would be one million. Some of this should be paid by the local police and the crown and/or their high paid proffesional witneses. (Smith) for one.
Posted by: jim | Apr 20, 2021 11:36:53 AM
sue the f u c k i n g lawyers that just worked to get a conviction and not really work on the facts
the whole legal system is set up to make money not to get justice in the way it is supposed to do
the whole legal system is broken and works only on money and the lawyers right or wrong get paid
this whole system needs to be over hauled and the lawyers that bring the system to its knees need to be held accountable not the tax payer