CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ABOLISHED IN CANADA

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ABOLISHED IN CANADA

and

THE MURDER OF 12-YEAR OLD LYNNE HARPER

The Disappearance of Lynne Harper

In the early evening of Tuesday June 9, 1959, 12-year-old Lynne Harper disappeared near RCAF Station, an air force base just south of Clinton, Ontario.  At about 11:20 that evening, Lynne's father reported her missing.  She was last seen with Steven Truscott.

Steven Murray Truscott (born January 18, 1945 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian who was sentenced to death in 1959, when he was a 14 ½ year old student, for the murder of classmate Lynne Harper.  They were classmates at the A.V.M. Hugh Campbell School on the air force base in Clinton.

Steve Truscott acknowledged being with Lynne the evening she was killed.  He was seen with her on his bicycle after 7 p.m. in close proximity to Lawson’s Bush where her body was found two days later.

After finishing her dinner and wearing only blue shorts and a white sleeveless blouse, Lynne walked over to the school grounds near her home and cheerfully helped Mrs. Nickerson with the younger Clinton Brownies.  Steven says he met Lynne at the Brownies and that she was in a chatty, presumably happy mood.  He says that Lynne asked for a ride to Highway 8 so she could hitch a ride to a pony farm.  He further stated that we pushed the bicycle between us across the school grounds to the county road.  There I got on the seat and she mounted the crossbar and we took off.

Steve Truscott has maintained since 1959 that he took Lynne Harper to the intersection of the county road and Highway 8 where Lynne got off his bike.  Truscott maintains that he left her unharmed and that when he arrived at the bridge he looked back toward the intersection where he had dropped Harper off and observed that a 1959 gray Chevrolet Bel Air had stopped and that she was in the process of entering the front seat.

On Truscott’s return to the school grounds there was some curiosity among the group of Steven’s classmates about what had happened to Lynne Harper. Several children had seen him leave with her. He came back alone. When asked whether they made any comment to him or whether there was any conversation with them, he replied:  “I believe one of them asked me—they said, ‘What did you do with Harper, feed her to the fish?’ and I replied that I had taken her and let her off at Highway No. 8”.  Truscott did not mention the car or Lynne getting a ride to anyone on his return to the school.

Arnold George, one of Truscott’s closest friends, testified that Steven said to him that he:  told the Police that I had seen him down at the river and I didn’t think there would be any harm then, so I just told them I had seen Steve and Lynne on his bicycle at the river around 7:30.

This occurred when they spoke at Steven's house the day after Lynne disappeared but before her body was found.  At first George lied but when the body was found he told the police the truth, that he had not seen Steven. Truscott said that at no time did he ever ask George to lie to the police about seeing him at the bridge.

Lynne Harper’s Body Found

1959 June 11:  Two days after Lynne disappeared, RCAF searchers found her partially nude body in a grove of ash, elm and maple trees known as Lawson's Bush. Someone had strangled her by winding her blouse tightly around her neck and securing it with a knot.

There is no doubt about the place of death. The position of her body, the scuff marks, a footprint at the foot, and the flattening of the vegetation between her legs, indicate that the act of rape or attempted rape took place where the body was found.

The leaves around her body were undisturbed, with no piles of dirt, scraped earth, or broken branches to suggest a violent struggle. Three branches from an ash tree lay across her body are the only signs of panic, and they are signs from the killer, not the victim.

All of her clothing was near where the body lay.  Most of her clothing was removed and neatly piled up— near her corpse.  Her brown loafers were placed side by side, her blue shorts zipped, and her socks neatly rolled up.  Her panties were 33 feet away.

There was a small amount of blood on the ground.  The wounds were consistent with having been made by twigs scattered around the ground. There were several puncture wounds on her back and shoulders, some of which were caused before death and some after death. A small quantity of blood was found on the dandelion leaves at the fork of the body.  Under Lynne’s left shoulder was a button from her blouse. It appears that this button was ripped from her blouse when forming the ligature used to strangle her.

The local coroner said that intercourse took place “while the child was dying, when the heart had stopped or had almost stopped beating”. His reason for this conclusion was that although the injuries to the parts were severe, the bleeding from them was very small.

The Arrest of Steven Truscott

1959 June 12: shortly after 7:00 p.m. Steven Truscott was taken into custody.

June 13: at about 2:30 a.m. Steven Truscott was charged with first degree murder under the provisions of the Juvenile Delinquents Act. 

June 29: Truscott was ordered to be tried as an adult; an appeal was dismissed.

Jury Trial:  Death for 14-Year Old Boy--- Hang Until Dead

1959 July 14:  Steven Truscott is committed to stand trial for capital murder.

1959 September 16:  Jury trial began at the Ontario Superior Court in Goderich.

1959 September 30:  After 15 days and listening to 74 witnesses, the 12-person Huron County jury returned a verdict of guilty, with mercy. The jury found that Lynne Harper died where she was found in Lawson’s bush and that she was not picked up at the intersection and subsequently brought back by anyone.  Mr. Justice Ronald Ferguson, as was then required under the law, sentenced Truscott to be hanged.

Sentence Commuted to Life

1960 Jan 20:  A five-judge Ontario Court unanimously dismisses Truscott's appeal.                             

1960 Jan 21:  Amid much controversy about the serious sentence, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Diefenbaker commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.  Since his arrest Truscott had been under a death sentence for less than four months at the Huron County jail in Goderich.  He is transferred to the Kingston Penitentiary.

1960 February:  Truscott was incarcerated at the Ontario Training School for Boys in Guelph from February 1960 to January 1963.

At the Supreme Court: the 1960s

1960 February 24:  Appeal of his conviction denied by the Supreme Court of Canada. 

1963 January 14:  Steven Truscott is transferred to Collins Bay Penitentiary.

1966 March 24:  The first public interest in the Truscott case was when journalist Isabel LeBourdais published The Trial of Steven Truscott, the first document to raise serious questions about the case and its outcome.  The one-sided 240-page volume rekindled public debate and interest in the case and incensed many at how the justice system treated Steven Truscott.  LeBourdais questioned the quick police investigation and trial procedures and believed that Truscott had been convicted of a crime he did not commit.  A huge public outcry about the case erupted leading to the federal government asking for a Supreme Court review.

1966 April 26:  The Canadian Government refers Truscott’s case to the Supreme Court of Canada over concerns that his conviction might have been a miscarriage of justice.

1966 October 5:  The Supreme Court of Canada decided to hear the Truscott case; not to determine Truscott's innocence or guilt but simply whether or not he deserved a new trial. 

1967, May 4: New forensic evidence was presented on his behalf, and Truscott testified before the Supreme Court of Canada and got a chance to tell his story for the first time. Truscott and 25 other witnesses testified before the Court, telling their story to the best of their abilities.

Testimony Before the Supreme Court by Steven Truscott and 25 Other Witnesses

Jocelyne Goddette was supposed to meet Steven Truscott (in the same bush where Lynne Harper was found) for a secret date.  She, Lynne and Steven were all in the same classroom, Grades 7 & 8, at A.V.M. Hugh Campbell School on the Air Force Base in Clinton.  Jocelyne Goddette’s story was that Steven had arranged to meet her on the right-hand side of the county road just outside the fence by Lawson’s woods at 6 p.m. on Tuesday to show her a new calf.

When asked by the Court if there was any more conversation between you and Truscott, Goddette replied, “Well, he just kept on telling me to ‘don’t tell anybody to come with you’ and that is all.”  She says that he called at her house about 5.50 p.m. and she told him that she could not come out now because they were sitting to eat and that she would meet him later if possible. Truscott denied that he arranged to meet Jocelyne Goddette.  He also denied that he called at her house about 5:50 p.m. to confirm their meeting to go looking for newborn calves.

On the day of her disappearance, at about 6.35 p.m., Lynne went to the school where she assisted a Mrs. Nickerson, who was conducting a meeting of Junior Girl Guides.  Mrs. Nickerson said that Steven came cycling on the pathway towards them shortly before 7 p.m., stopped nearby and sat on his bike.  Lynne went over to him and sat on his front wheel. They were talking. After a few minutes, Mrs. Nickerson saw them leave together in a northerly direction around the west side of the school with Steven pushing his bike and Lynne walking alongside.  Mrs. Nickerson puts the time between 7.00 and 7.10 p.m.  Truscott says the ladies are mistaking about the time.

Truscott’s story is that Lynne wanted to go to a place where there were a few ponies.  He told the police that Lynn rode on his crossbar to the highway where he dropped her off, all alone, and headed back home on his bike.  He stopped once at the small flat Bayfield bridge to look back towards the highway to see if she'd found a ride. He saw Lynne get in and the car speed away. He estimated the time to be near 7:45 p.m.

Steven Truscott was the last person to see Lynne before she disappeared. The bridge is 1,300 feet from the highway intersection.  He said he saw a gray 1959 Bel Air Chevrolet with yellow license plates stop, and he watched Lynne get into the car and saw it drive east, down the highway.  The pony farm was only about 500 yards east of where Steven left Lynne.  If what Steven says is true, then whoever picked her up or some other person would have had to bring her back to Lawson’s bush, either dead or alive, unnoticed by anyone. If dead, he would have had to place her body in the bush and create the appearance that she had been killed at that spot. 

And all the while, her stomach contents are in the early phases of digestion. It is a process that is as natural today as it was then. The time of death of Lynne Harper was established as roughly 7:30 – 8:30 based upon the digestion of stomach contents.  Lynne’s parents said she ate at 5:30 and the coroner estimated that it could be 15 minutes to either side.

If Truscott’s story is true, a random violent pedophile happened to be driving along the country road just minutes after Steven dropped Lynne off.  If this pedophile drove on down the road and then decided to rape and kill her, why not just dump the body miles away from where he may have been seen when giving her a lift.  Instead the pedophile turns the car around, drives back to the area where she was picked up, parks his car along the road, walks with her into Lawson’s Bush where he decides to rape and strangle her and neatly lays out her shoes, socks, and shorts.  By now it is very dark and a stranger would have a difficult time in those woods. This is the same wooded area that five kids saw Truscott earlier, some of them further saying that Steven was there with Lynne.

Farmer Lawson reported seeing a convertible near his farm about 10 p.m. the night of Lynn’s disappearance.  A man and maybe a girl were inside.  It was very dark.  Is it possible that the man who picked her up earlier had now brought her back so that the blame for her murder would be put on someone else?  Why not leave her or her body near the highway intersection instead of 90 feet into the dark woods.  And how would he know what went on earlier that day, who was last seen with her, or who would be searching for her now?  This scenario, like any other involving a stranger, does not follow a logical path. 

Timeline Between Disappearance and Discovery of Lynne Harper’s Body:

JUNE: (dates are accurate; times are approximate because no child had a timepiece. Also times are not precise as the events were meaningless at the time.)

June 8 Monday:  Jocelyne Goddette testified that Steven wanted to meet her at Lawson’s bush Monday to show her two new born calves.  She says she told Steve that maybe she could on Tuesday.  They arranged to meet at Lawson’s wood at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.  Truscott testified that this conversation never happened.

June 9   Tuesday:

Goddette testified that Steven told her to meet him on the right-hand side of the County Road “just outside of the fence by the woods” at 6:00 p.m. He told her to keep the plan quiet because Mr. Lawson did not like a bunch of kids on his property.

5:50 p.m. - Jocelyne testified that Steven called at her house and she told him that she could not come out now because of domestic duties and that she would meet him later if possible.  Truscott testified that he did not contact Jocelyne that evening.

7:00 -7:10 p.m. -  At the school, Mrs. Nickerson saw Steve and Lynne leave together in a northerly direction around the west side of the school with Steven pushing his bike and Lynne walking alongside.  Steven says the time is incorrect.

7:10 - Not one person has reported seeing Steve or Lynne at County Road & Highway 8 around this time.  Not even the boy who rode by that intersection on his way to the river around 7:10 p.m. and return home around 7:45 p.m.

7:10 - 7:20 p.m. - Jocelyne is looking for Steven near their Lawson’s bush meeting place.

7:25   p.m. - Farmer Lawson said Jocelyne was at his barn and she told him she had been looking for Steven and was going back to look for him again, which she did a few minutes later.

7:30 – 7:55 p.m. - Jocelyne was at Lawson’s bush looking for Steven (this was around the same time Steven says he was on his bike with Lynne).  Also Philip Burns was looking for Steven.  Shortly thereafter Butch George joined in the search.  When Butch says Steven took Lynne into Lawson’s Bush they both began calling for Steven and Lynne. They failed to find any sign of either Steven or Lynne.

8:10 p.m. – When Steve Truscott returned to the school a classmate asked him, “What did you do with Harper, feed her to the fish?” and he says that he replied that I had taken her and let her off at Highway 8. 

Tuesday Evening:  Butch George first tells his “in the bush” story to Kenny Geiger and Allan Durnin and then later that evening to a group of boys at The Custard Cup.

11:20 p.m.: Lynne's father reported her missing.  She was last seen with Steven Truscott.

June 10 Wednesday morning - Tom Gillette said Trescott told him that he was in Lawson’s bush on Tuesday evening looking for a calf.  Truscott denies this happened.

Wednesday noon - George Archibald hears Truscott say that he was in Lawson’s bush.  Wednesday evening:  Bryan Glover also hears Truscott say that he was in Lawson’s bush on the day Lynne disappeared.  Truscott says he never said such things.

Wednesday evening - Mike George, a teenage relative of Butch George, tells Joyce Harrington, one of the mothers on the base, that Lynne Harper has been raped.  Joyce Harrington reports this to the Clinton police who record the tip in a brief police note.

June 11 Thursday afternoon - searchers discover Lynne’s partially nude body in a nearby farm woodlot known as Lawson’s Bush.  She had been strangled by someone winding her sleeveless blouse tightly around her neck and securing it with a knot.

June 12, Friday - shortly after 7:00 p.m., Truscott was taken into custody.

June 13, Saturday - at about 2:30 a.m. Steve Truscott was charged with first degree murder under the provisions of the Juvenile Delinquents Act. 

Incredibilities and Denials

Truscott denied that on the trip down to the river between 6 and 7 p.m. he met Ken Geiger and Robb Harrington.

Truscott denied any conversation with Geiger about his mother being at the river.

Truscott denied that he had seen Mrs. Geiger or Paul Desjardine during the course of that trip and said that he did not remember any of them giving evidence at his trial.

Truscott denied having seen either Robb Harrington, who was with Geiger, or Ronald Demaray, who says that he was at the bridge while Truscott was there.

These were all people who gave evidence that they met him and described his movements on the road between 6.30 and 7.00 p.m.

Truscott denied that he had met Gellatly on the highway and  that he did not remember telling the police that he had met Gellatly.  At the trial Gellatly’s evidence was challenged on cross-examination.

Truscott denied that Arnold George came to his house on June 9 and he denied any conversation with George during that evening. This was the occasion when George said that he had heard that Steven was in the bush with Lynne and when Truscott had replied he was only on the side of the bush looking for a cow and a calf.

Truscott denied that he had any conversation with George the evening after Lynne’s disappearance. This is the occasion when George said that he had agreed with Steven to tell the police that he, George, had seen 

Truscott at the bridge on Tuesday evening.  Truscott and Arnold George were close friends and that in order to protect Steven, by an agreement George did tell the Police that he had seen Steven and Lynne go to the highway.  But when Lynne’s body was found, the boy came to a realization that to protect a friend can go just so far, and then he gave a right and true statement.

Steven Truscott has always maintained that he and Lynne were only near Lawson’s bush but never in the bush.  But the truth is she is there--where her body is found.

The case would go to the jury with five witnesses saying that they did not see Truscott and Lynne on the road. Two of these were actively looking for him.  Trescott testified that he did not see Burns, Gaudet, George, or Vandendool on the County Road as he and Lynne made their way north.  He said he waved to George in the river as he crossed the bridge with Lynne. 

So, even before Lynn’s body would be found several schoolmates stated that Steven was in the vicinity of Lawson's Bush the evening she was murdered.  If every kid is a horrible liar, each directly or indirectly has made up a story putting Truscott near where Harper’s body is coincidently found.  Steven Truscott maintains that nearly every person who saw him or said they had a conversation with him was either lying or mistaken. 

Truscott has always maintained that he was with Lynne, but claims they split up and he saw her getting into a car after he rode to the bridge and looked back.  However, Truscott’s statements do put him in or near Lawson’s Bush on Tuesday evening.  They thus support the contention that he was not being candid in describing his whereabouts in his various statements to the police in the days following Lynne’s disappearance. [4]

It should be noted here that not one person has reported seeing Steve or Lynne at County Road & Highway 8.  Not even Teunis Vandenpool who rode his bike by that intersection around 7:15 and 7:45 p.m. on his way to the river and on his return trip home.

The Joint opinion of Canada’s Supreme Court Justices:

 After a two week hearing before the Supreme Court, Canada’s top judges ruled 8-1 against Truscott getting a new trial and he was returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. Those eight judges watched and listened carefully to Steven Truscott as he gave his testimony and it was clear to them that his testimony was vague and confused.  Parts of the Truscott’s testimony were clearly inaccurate.  In some respects, far from assisting Truscott, these inaccuracies tended to contradict the defence position. [2]  The Supreme Court stated that “There were many incredibilities inherent in the evidence given by Truscott before us and we do not believe his testimony”

 “The verdict of the jury, read in the light of the charge of the trial judge, makes it clear that they were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the facts, which they found to be established by the evidence which they accepted, were not only consistent with the guilt of Truscott but were inconsistent with any rational conclusion other than that Steven Truscott was the guilty person.

The lone dissenting voice came from Justice Emmett Hall. He said that having considered the case fully, he believes that the conviction should be quashed and a new trial directed.  His view was that the trial was not conducted according to law and that even the guiltiest criminal must be tried according to law.  He also said that does not mean that I consider Truscott guilty or innocent; that determination is for the jury and for the jury alone.

The Supreme Court was asked to determine how it would have decided an appeal by Truscott, on the basis of the existing judicial record and any other evidence it received.

Truscott explains this deplorably bad performance by saying that his lawyers did not “adequately prepare” him for his testimony (page 432). Think about that one for a moment. Here we have the most notorious criminal case in Canadian history, an unprecedented hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada after an eight year public battle, the best criminal lawyers in the country, all this new expert evidence on human digestion that will exonerate wrongly convicted Steven Truscott – yet no one on the crack defense team thinks to prepare their star client for his testimony? How much preparation is required to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?  Does this sort of explanation not smack of the very “incredibilities” those Supreme Court judges talk about? [4]

The Court ruled 8-1 that it would indeed have upheld the conviction on the basis that the conduct of the provincial trial was fair and legal.  There would be no new trial.

 

Steven Truscott Released From Prison

1967 May 7:  Truscott was transferred to the Farm Annex of Collins Bay Penitentiary.

1969 October 21:  Ten years after Steve Truscott was sentenced to hang by the neck, he was released on parole.  He had an unblemished institutional record.

Canadian Journalists Take up Truscott’s Cause

1971:  Bill Trent's The Steven Truscott Story causes renewed interest in the crime.  The frist public interest was in the spring of 1966 when journalist Isabel LeBourdais published The Trial of Steven Truscott, the first document to raise serious questions about a young boy being sentenced to hang.  This comes six years after Truscott’s death sentence was commuted to life.

The Death Penalty for Murder Abolished in Canada

1976 July 14:  Before this date the only method used in Canada for capital punishment in nonmilitary contexts was hanging.  Until now 1,481 people have been sentenced to death, with 710 executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women. The last execution in Canada was on December 11, 1962 at Toronto's Don Jail.