The Governor in Council referred the question of whether David Milgaard's 1970 murder conviction constituted a miscarriage of justice to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Court heard fresh evidence, including recanted testimony from a key trial witness and evidence of a pattern of sexual assaults by another individual.
The Court established guidelines for determining a miscarriage of justice and concluded that the fresh evidence, taken together with the trial evidence, could reasonably be expected to have affected the jury's verdict.
The Court advised the Minister of Justice to quash the conviction and direct a new trial.
