After a lengthy delay occasioned by court challenges to Commissioner Davies’ decision to have Crown Counsel explain their decisions, the Frank Paul Inquiry resumes this Wednesday in Vancouver.

Ivan Henry with his daughters after his acquittal

In a decision released Wednesday, the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned Ivan Henry’s 1982 sexual assault convictions and acquitted him of all charges. Mr. Henry spent nearly 27 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. The Crown case was based solely on the complainants’ testimony after many of them picked him out of this lineup:

Although the perpetrator’s bodily fluids were found and collected from the crime scenes, no physical evidence was tendered at trial to link Mr. Henry to the offences. Although Mr. Henry immediately started filing a barrage of more than 50 applications seeking his release, the physical evidence was lost or destroyed in the interim and is no longer available for DNA testing.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal is set to release its decision on Ivan Henry’s conviction appeal on Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

In this photo of part of a live lineup viewed by complainants before his trial, Ivan Henry is no. 12

On November 3, 2010, Commissioner William Davies, Q.C. is scheduled to resume hearings into the response of the Criminal Justice Branch to the death of Frank Joseph Paul.

Mr. Paul died in December of 1998 after Vancouver police dragged him, soaking wet, from the jail and transported him by wagon to an alley in an industrial area, where he was left, alone and cold. He succumbed to hypothermia within a few hours. No criminal charges were laid.

The Criminal Justice Branch challenged Commissioner Davies’ decision that the Crown counsel involved in the charge assessment decisions could be called as witnesses at the hearings. The Branch’s litigation in the BC Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada was ultimately unsuccessful.

An pre-hearing meeting of counsel has been scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 22, 2010 in Room 816 of the Federal Court building at 701 West Georgia Street in Vancouver.

A Commission of Inquiry has been announced into the circumstances surrounding the women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Wallace Oppal will be the Commissioner and Art Vertlieb will be Commission Counsel.

We currently represent the families of Georgina Papin, Mona Wilson and Marnie Frey, three of the six women Robert Willie Pickton was convicted of killing. We also currently represent the families of Dianne Rock, Cara Ellis and Cynthia Dawn Feliks, three of the women Pickton was accused of killing in a separate indictment. It is not clear yet whether any of our clients will be granted standing to participate in the inquiry.

We expect to have more to say about this matter soon. No date has been fixed for the Inquiry.