Guy Paul Morin

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Guy Paul Morin is a Canadian who was wrongly convicted of the October, 1984 murder of his nine-year-old, next-door-neighbour, Christine Jessop of Queensville, Ontario. DNA testing led to a subsequent overturning of this verdict.

[edit] Wrongfully Convicted

Jessop's body was found December 31, 1984 in Durham Region and the Durham Regional Police Service had jurisdiction and conducted the investigation. Detective Fitzpatrick and Inspector Shephard arrested Morin on the evening of April 22, 1985. Morin was 25 years old at the time of his arrest.

Morin was acquitted of murder at his first trial in 1986. The Crown exercised its right to appeal the verdict on the grounds that the trial judge made a fundamental error prejudicing the Crown's right to a fair trial. In 1987 the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. The retrial was delayed until 1992 by Morin's own appeals based on the Crown's non-disclosure of exculpatory evidence and by other issues, including the double jeopardy rule.

Morin was convicted at the second trial, but many believed him to be innocent. Unlike others convicted of murdering children after sexually abusing them, he was kept in the general population throughout his time in prison without being a victim of violence. Improvements in DNA testing led to a test in 1995 which excluded Morin as the murderer. Morin's appeal of his conviction was allowed and a directed verdict of acquittal entered in the appeal.

An inquiry into Morin's case also uncovered evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct, and of misrepresentation of forensic evidence by the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences.