By Mario deSantis, June 25, 1999

I just finished to read the book "A Mother's Story" by Joyce Milgaard(1). In this book, Joyce recounts the horrible nightmares she and her family had to undergo to free and eventually prove the innocence of her son David. David spent twenty-three years in prison, and when he was freed from jail his name was still tainted by a crime he didn't commit. It took another four years to have his name finally cleared, and this happened not because of a new trial brought by new evidence but by the results of a DNA test initiated and supported by David's mother.

Joyce not only had to fight to prove that her son was innocent, but she had to carry on her own private investigations, circumvent the continuous obstacles placed against her by the police and the justice system, and she had to point the finger to the alleged real murderer as well: Larry Fisher!

Our justice system is undoubtedly corrupted, and our Premier Romanow should have a first hand understanding of the cover up affecting David Milgaard's wrongful imprisonment; as a matter of fact, while being provincial attorney general, he and his former chief prosecutor Serge Kujawa went into meetings with David's file and those of Larry Fisher(2). The law and order mentality of our justice system for protecting the individual rights of Saskatchewan people can be summarized by Kujawa's statement made back in 1991 "...It doesn't matter if Milgaard is innocent...The whole judicial system is at issue-it's worth more than one person..."(3)

Today, under this socialistic perspective, the$10 million compensation David received can be viewed as a payout to save the personal assets of this government rather than to compensate for the pains David and his family suffered while he was wrongly imprisoned(4). Let us not forget that the pains the Milgaard's family suffered were harrowing. And, I found the Foreword of the book, by David'ssister Susan, particularly feeling and emotional when she says:

"...Guilty is what they said David was. Guilty is what they have made each of us feel. Try living one day on the outside knowing you have your freedom and your brother is locked away and you can do nothing to change that. Then do that for twenty-three years. Guilty is how David feels because he has seen us spend all these years with our lives on hold trying to free him. Guilty is how my mother feels because she was not there for the rest of us while we were growing up. Guilty is how we felt whenever we walked out the prison doors after visiting David and hearing the metal clang of the door as it shut behind you, leaving him there. It is a sound you never forget. Guilty is how we would feel any time something wonderful would happen in our lives, knowing David couldn't be there to share in the happiness... Hug your child like you have never hugged him or her before. What happened to David could happen to anyone with the system that still exists and they could be gone tomorrow..."

Endnotes

1. A Mother's Story: The Fight To Free My Son David, by Joyce Milgaard with Peter Edwards, Doubleday Canada Limited, 1999

2. A Mother's Story: The Fight To Free My Son David, by Joyce Milgaard with Peter Edwards, Doubleday Canada Limited, 1999, page 243

3. A Mother's Story: The Fight To Free My Son David, by Joyce Milgaard with Peter Edwards, Doubleday Canada Limited, 1999, page 251

4. On Milgaard's Compensation of $10 Million, by Mario deSantis, June 14, 1999, Published in the North Central Internet News