AIDWYC Frees Another Wrongly Convicted - Hays to get new trail

 
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New Forensic Evidence Leads SCC to Send

Leighton Hay’s Murder Conviction Back to Trial

Toronto, Canada – The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) is pleased to announce that the Supreme Court of Canada has today ordered that Leighton Hay’s 2004 first degree murder conviction in Toronto must be quashed and sent back for a new trial. For 12 years Mr. Hay and AIDWYC have been fighting to clear his name and the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision is an important step towards establishing his innocence. 

In the early morning of July 6, 2002, two men shot and killed Collin Moore in a Toronto nightclub. The men also shot at Collin’s brother, Roger Moore, who escaped with a graze to his forehead.

The Crown alleged that Mr. Hay was one of the two gunmen and the gunman who was supposed to be Mr. Hay was described by an eyewitness as having 2-inch dreadlocks.  However, when arrested hours after the shooting, Mr. Hay had a very short haircut causing the prosecution to allege that he must have cut his hair after the shooting.  The prosecutor produced hairs found by police wrapped in a newspaper from the bathroom in the home where he was arrested as proof of the haircut.

At Mr. Hay’s appeal in the Supreme Court of Canada on April 23, 2013, AIDWYC presented new evidence that undermined the Crown’s eyewitness identification evidence of Mr. Hay. The new evidence establishes that the hairs seized from the home by the police came from Mr. Hay’s beard and were not from a haircut.

Erroneous eyewitness identification is a well-known cause of wrongful convictions in Canada and in other countries. According to the U.S. Innocence Project, eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions in that country, playing a role in nearly 75% of convictions overturned as a result of their post-conviction DNA results.

James Lockyer, AIDWYC’s lead counsel who argued the case in the Supreme Court of Canada for Mr. Hay said today,

“It is a good day for Mr. Hay and a good day for justice in Canada. Mr. Hay is a vulnerable member of our society and is in many ways a ready victim for a wrongful conviction.  AIDWYC adopted his case three years ago and we feel vindicated by this decision. We will be there for Mr. Hay at his new trial.”

AIDWYC is a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, advocating for, and clearing the names of individuals convicted of crimes they did not commit and working to prevent future wrongful convictions through education. This year, AIDWYC is celebrating its 20^th Anniversary. On November 23, 2013, an educational conference and celebratory gala will be held in Toronto. Both events are open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend. Visit AIDWYC’s website to learn more and donate: www.aidwyc.org.

For more information, contact:

James Lockyer, 416-847-2560

Win Wahrer, 416-504-7500

Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary

NEWS ADVISORY

10/30/2013

Attn:      News Desks; Health/Book/Lifestyle Editors

File:        Prostate Cancer, Men’s Health, Movember, New E-Books

Is there sex after prostate cancer? Men’s health top of mind during ‘Movember’

Interviews available: Don Truckey, author of:

“My Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary

The story of a young survivor who didn’t go limp”

Just released e-book is man-to-man account of dealing with the disease through diagnosis, treatment

AND the part that almost always gets left out: sex after treatment

What: New e-book My Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary, by Don Truckey; published byCanadianwritersgroup.com.  Like no other book on the subject, this memoir not only works through the confusion and controversies surrounding prostate cancer, including the ups and downs of treatment options and learning to move on, but provides an honest, personal account of one man’s journey toward post-surgery sexual recovery.

Why: While awareness of prostate cancer has increased this past decade, one thing that doesn’t get discussed when all of those “Movember” moustaches begin to sprout is the fact that treatments for the disease have dramatic and often traumatic consequences when it comes to a man’s sexual ability.  Many men suffer from severe or total erectile dysfunction after treatment. Directed at men (and their partners) who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, My Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary delivers the straight goods, not necessarily from a doctor, but from another man who’s been through it.

Who: Don Truckey is an award-winning screenwriter whose work includes the television series Street Legal and Urban Angel. He has written two movies with hockey as their theme: the Gemini award-winning Net Worth and Chicks with Sticks, as well as Crazy Canucks about Canada’s Olympic Ski team. His first book in the Caraway Kim Series, The Adventures of Caraway Kim . . . Southpaw was published in 2005 and was shortlisted for the 2007 Rocky Mountain Book Award (Alberta Children in Literacy Program).  Don Truckey resides in Toronto, Ontario. He was diagnosed with the prostate cancer at age fifty-four and has recovered following successful treatment. 

View author introduction at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhH-WeBe_00

My Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary, by Don Truckey, published by Canadian Writers Group is available online for $2.99 via the following links:

Kobo link: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/Search?Query=my+prostate+%28sex%29+diary

Kindle link: http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/190-5241224-4935721?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=My%20prostate%20cancer%20(sex)%20diary

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To arrange interviews or obtain book and author photos please contact:

Linda Crane

416-727-0112

cranepr@rogers.com

OR

Stephen Weir

Stephen@stephenweir.com

416-489-5868

Don Truckey: The Story of a Young Survivor Who Didn’t Go Limp

MEDIA ALERT

Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary E-Book Published in Canada

A Chronicle of the Not-So-Hard Facts About this Prevalent Disease

Toronto, ON.  It is the side effect of prostate cancer that the medical profession doesn’t like to talk about, especially in Movember – severe or total erectile dysfunction.  Oh yes, and encountering adult diapers and catheters way on the young side of ninety.

Don Truckey Poses For Press Pictures

The Canadian Writers Group has just published journalist, author and prostate cancer survivor Don Truckey’s new e-book My Prostate Cancer (Sex) Diary: The Story of a Young Survivor Who Didn’t Go Limp. Available now on Kindle and Kobo, Truckey’s e-book is an extremely frank personal account about prostate cancer treatment. It has been written for people who want to hear the straight goods, not necessarily from a doctor, about what it means to be diagnosed with this often-treatable disease – there will be 23,600 men in this country who get the news this year alone. 

Don Truckey is an award-winning screenwriter whose work includes the television series Street Legal and Urban Angel. He has written two movies with hockey as their theme: the Gemini award-winning Net Worth and Chicks with Sticks, as well as Crazy Canucks about Canada’s Olympic Ski team. His first book in the Caraway Kim Series, The Adventures of Caraway Kim . . . Southpaw was published in 2005 and was shortlisted for the 2007 Rocky Mountain Book Award.

Truckey, who lives in Toronto, went from writing screenplays to chronicling sex and prostate cancer after being diagnosed with the disease at fifty-four.  His personal diary is witty, easy to read and takes on every prostate cancer taboo. Truckey has recorded a short video in which he talks about the new e-book http://youtu.be/KhH-WeBe_00.

Based in Toronto, the Canadian Writers Group represents Canada’s most talented, in-demand freelance writers and published the bestselling e-book Finding Karla. See more at: http://canadianwritersgroup.com/#sthash.mJyj0k5T.dpuf

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For interviews, preview copies of the book, photographs contact:

Stephen Weir

Stephen Weir & Associates

Toronto

416-801-3101

Stephen@stephenweir.com

CranePr@Rogers.com

Religion and Politics will mix at IFOA with Preston and Simpson on stage

Andrew Preston (l) and Jeffrey Simpson

Attention Political Buffs and Non-Fiction Readers…

 

Charles Taylor Prize winner Andrew Preston and
Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson
Discuss timely subject: Religon and America Politics

International Festival of Authors
Saturday, October 26, 2013 8 p.m

 

TORONTO: October 17, 2013…The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) joins forces with The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction (CTP) for an evening of literary discussion that puts the spotlight on religion and politics. On Saturday, October 26^th author Andrew Preston, winner of the 2013 CTP for Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy will talk about his book, and later be joined by award winning author and Globe and Mail public affairs columnist Jeffrey Simpson to discuss the book, and its relation to recent American politics. The event begins at 8 p.m. at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Queen’s Quay Terminal Building, Harbourfront, Toronto. 

Charles Taylor Prize founder Noreen Taylor will speak on behalf of Canada’s most prestigious literary prize.  Mrs. Taylor explains that, “In light of current events, Andrew Preston’s well-researched reflections on the religious underpinnings of American Foreign and Domestic Policy offer important insights both into us and our neighbour to the South. As for Jeffrey Simpson, his background in both Canadian and American affairs is justifiably award-winning.  With Jeffrey interviewing Andrew, I think we are all in for a treat.  It will be nothing short of brain candy.”

WHAT:  Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction Spotlight at IFOA

                Religion & Politics with Andrew Preston and Jeffrey Simpson

WHEN:  Saturday, October 26 at 8:00 pm

WHERE: Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, Toronto

Andrew Preston

WHO:  Andrew Preston (Cambridge, England) is the winner of The 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy, published by Knopf Canada.

Preston teaches American history and international relations history at Cambridge University, where he is a fellow of Clare College. Before Cambridge, he taught history and international studies at Yale University. He has also taught at universities in Canada and Switzerland and has been a fellow at the Cold War Studies Program at the London School of Economics. He was born in Ontario and received his BA from the University of Toronto.

Jeffrey Simpson is the national affairs columnist at The Globe and Mail and the author of eight books, including Chronic Condition: Dragging Canada’s Health-Care System into the 21^st Century, which won the 2013 Donner Prize for the best book on public policy and is currently shortlisted for the City of Ottawa Book Awards. An Officer of the Order of Canada, he is a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

He was a juror for The 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and the 2012 Cundill prize in History at McGill, for which Andrew Preston was shortlisted. Jeffrey Simpson lives in Ottawa with his wife Wendy. They have three children.

 

The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction recognizes excellence in Canadian non-fiction writing and emphasizes the development of the careers of the authors it celebrates. For more information visit: www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca

The International Festival of Authors presents a wide range of readings, round table discussions, on-stage interviews, book signings and a number of special events featuring the most exciting authors in contemporary literature. The 34^th annual IFOA runs from October 24 to November 3, 2013.  For tickets visit: http://ifoa.org/festival or call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416-973-4000.

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Issued by/Media contacts:

To cover this event, request photos or speak with the authors: 

Stephen Weir & Associates
Stephen Weir: 416-489-5868 cell: 416-801-3101 sweir5492@rogers.com 
Linda Crane: 416-727-0112 or cranepr@rogers.com

The event has taken place. The two photographs shown above were taken by Stephen Weir at the Fleck Theatre event. There are more pictures from the event in the Photography Blog. 

 

 

 

Great White Shark Gets Wet Welcome To Toronto

Great big launch for IMAX Great White Shark

Ontario Underwater Council's Scuba Demonstration Tank in Front Of Ontario Science Centre

It was a shark frenzy of activity at the Ontario Science Centre today as the Toronto public attraction gets ready for Tuesday's launch of the new Imax Movie - Great White Shark. 

The Science Centre is working with the Ontario Underwater Council to have a memorable one-day debut for the film. Pictured, two huge film banners are hung outside of the Science Centre. In the top picture you can see the banner behind a portable diving tank. 

Members of the Underwater Council (OUC) will be inside the tank most of tomorrow demonstrating how to scuba dive as part of the Science Centre's Media Day.

Prior to filling the tank, OUC president Rick Le Blanc (right) climbed inside and cleaned the viewing window.  The Association represents the rights and needs of over 200,000 active scuba divers in the province. 

Although there are only a few species of sharks native to Ontario waters (in Hudson Bay), many Ontario scuba divers travel south to swim and photograph sharks. 

Three years in the making, Great White Shark takes viewers around the world to see the large sharks in their natural habitat.

“Our mission is to change people’s attitudes toward the great white,” said Steve McNicholas, co-director of the film. “It’s not the menacing, evil predator it’s made out to be. It’s simply performing its crucial role at the top of the ocean’s food chain.  Great whites are not monsters any more than the polar bears or lions that we revere.”  

Shark Banner Outside IMAX theatre

 Distributed by Giant Screen Films, Great White Shark is produced by Yes/No Productions and Liquid Pictures 3D. It is narrated by acclaimed stage and film actor Bill Nighy.

 

Jason Baldwin - West Memphis Three - to speak at AIDWYC 20th Anniversary Gala

AIDWYC

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted

 

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) will be hosting “BACK to the FUTURE” a day-long educational conference, gala dinner and an evening of festivities in recognition of its 20^th Anniversary. 

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Hyatt Regency

370 King St W Toronto, ON M5V 1J9

           

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JASON BALDWIN (West Memphis Three) to be Keynote Speaker at AIDWYC’s Gala Dinner.

Interviews can be scheduled for all participants as well as AIDWYC’s Co-Presidents Jonathan Freedman and Ralph Steinberg:

CONTACT:  Stephen Weir at 416-801-3101 or 416-489-5868. stephen@stephenweir.com,

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Gala Keynote Speaker, Jason Baldwin (West Memphis Three)—one of three teenagers wrongly imprisoned for 18 years for the murder of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas.  Mr. Baldwin and his two co-accused were released in 2011.  Mr. Baldwin joins a long list of wrongly convicted Canadians and Americans who will be in Toronto to participate in this milestone event.

Conference –reflecting on past convictions through the lens of today’s developments in forensic sciences, research and evidence and working towards preventing and correcting wrongful convictions in the future.

Topics to be discussed by leading experts in their fields include: History of Innocence Work, Shaken Baby Syndrome, the Role of the Crown in Preventing Wrongful Convictions, the Role of Bias in the System, False Confessions/Plea Bargains, the relationship between Forensic Science and Miscarriages of Justice and the Long Way Home – the wrongly convicted and their families share their stories. 

The conference will include exoneree and AIDWYC Board member Ron Dalton who was incarcerated for 9 years for a non-murder before being exonerated.  Also participating  amongst many others will be the Wrongly Convicted and their Families, Toronto lawyer and AIDWYC co-founder James Lockyer, New York lawyers and co-founder’s of the Innocence Project Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, the godfather of innocence work and founder of Centurion Ministries, James McCloskey,  co-host of the Fifth Estate, Linden MacIntyre, Special advisor to the Commissioner of the Elliot Lake Inquiry and former Special Advisor on wrongful convictions to the Department of Justice, Stephen Bindman, retired Kingston, Ontario Chief of Police, William Closs, Judge Anne Derrick, QC of the Provincial and Family Court of Nova Scotia, Professor Tim Moore from the Department  of Psychology at Glendon College , who is a consultant and expert witness in criminal trials both in Canada and the United States, Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

The media and public are welcome to attend “Back to the Future”.  Tickets can be purchased through AIDWYC’s website www.aidwyc.org.

Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley Jr. (West Memphis Three) were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys.  Mr. Echols was sentenced to death; Mr. Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life imprisonment with two 20-year sentences added to Mr. Misskelley’s life sentence.

The West Memphis Three were released in part due to dedicated attorneys, a skilled private investigator, a series of documentary films produced by HBO, half a dozen books; hundreds of magazine, newspaper, and television features which drew international attention to their case.  Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan will be releasing a feature film, Devil’s Knot, the true story of the West Memphis Three case, starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.

Atom Egoyan has dramatized for the screen the story of the West Memphis Three.  The film previewed to critical acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier this fall.  Critics see this as an important film that is as compelling and disturbing as the truth itself.  Egoyan is a master at telling tales about deeply misunderstood outsiders, their families and communities, and their darkest fantasies.  In Devil’s Knot Egoyan details the small-town lives of ordinary people befuddled and angered by the senseless killing in their ostensibly safe town and the private investigator for whom the sum of the case’s parts doesn’t quite add up, and who is driven to get at the truth.

AIDWYC’s “Back to the Future” conference will educate the legal profession, the judiciary and law enforcement and compel them to respect society’s ethical obligation to reverse wrongful convictions when evidence proves a miscarriage of justice has occurred.

A number of high profile musicians and actors including Eddie Vedder, the Dixie Chicks and Johnnie Depp worked hard to secure their release based on flaws in their original trial and DNA evidence.

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted is a national, non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to identifying, advocating for, and exonerating individuals convicted of a crime that they did not commit and to preventing such injustices in the future through education and reform.

For Further Information Please Contact:

Debbie Oakley at doakley@rogers.com or 416-648-4275 or Stephen Weir at 416-801-3101 or 416-489-5868. stephen@stephenweir.com

Deciding on a location - It is a Presser dark art!

..... NEVER IN A MEAT MARKET!

The Honourable Hilary Mary Weston at the podium - downtown Loblaws

 By Stephen Weir
(from a Huffington Post Blog by the author)

I have done it in a plane. Once on a train. There was that time amongst Cuba's sugar cane. Always too often in the rain, and even yes, in Spain (well a Spanish restaurant). I have never organised or attended one held in a meat market .... until today. I am rhyming 'bout the kick-off Press Conference - the bread-and-butter event of any PR campaign.
In the dark arts of organising successful press conferences, often one of the trickiest, most over-thought and criticised decisions is where you are going to actually stage the presser.  In a hotel ballroom? In a theatre? In a park? At City Hall?
Locating where you hold a briefing for the media is considered a make-or-break decision for an expensive launch. A great location doesn't guarantee good coverage, however, a poor location will hinder the media turn-out.
You want to be easily accessible to the major media outlets. There has to be parking.  If it is a BIG news story it is a must to have room out front for a couple TV sat trucks (whether they show up or not is a different issue).  You have to be sure that the media's cars and trucks won't get towed.
The endless list continues. There has to be free Wifi for social media. There should be public transit close by, and, most importantly, the location has to be media neutral -- you never ever want to hold a presser in the parking lot of CTV headquarters and expect the CBC to show up!
What about holding it in a grocery store in a space between a counter dishing out stinky gorganzola and head cheese and the dash-and-go prepared egg salad sandwich bar?  Would you have a former Lieutenant Governor and a UK "Lady" announce a literary prize while shoppers try to navigate their carts past newspaper scribes, TV crews and radio reporters.  My answer would be  NO. Never. Too Risky.
But, I would be wrong.  This morning I attended the Hilary Weston Prize  Non-Fiction Shortlist announcement that was held at the downtown Toronto Loblaws store (the old Maple Leaf Gardens) in the aisle between the deli counter and the pre-made lunch item coolers.  
The Writer's Trust annual non-fiction award now bears the name and the patronage of the former Lieutenant Governor.  Hilary and her husband Galen Weston, along with Baroness Black of Crossharbour (Barbara Amiel), were the three "big name draws" at the morning presser.  I wager none of them would ever be spotted bellying up to the Meat Counter and ordering a pound of ground but today they were happy to share the aisles with downtown shoppers.
Loblaws, owned by the Weston family, has also come on board big time helping to sponsor the large annual Canadian non-fiction book prize. They wanted to show the media how they would soon be putting the five books on this morning's shortlist into grocery stores across the nation.  Juxtaposing the wealth of one of Canada's richest families with every-day people queueing up to buy grub, effectively brought home the message that for most Canadian authors, writing a non-fiction book is a hand-to-mouth experience.  Winning this particular prize will give one starving author the ability to move from the wieners 'n' beans shelf to crackers and foie gras in Aisle Five.
Back to the actual press conference, the set-up team put in a sound system and stage that easily overcame the noise and sight line problems one might expect in a meat market! This is the second year that the event has been held at Loblaws and the number of media covering the shortlist announcement has mushroomed  - oops, wrong food reference since this morning's press conference location decision was a long way away from the veggies, fruits and nuts!