David Milgaard (July 7, 1952 – May 15, 2022) was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years.
Under pressure to solve a crime that had generated significant publicity, police focused their attention on Milgaard, Wilson and John.
Cadrain also gave a false confession and later testified that he had seen Milgaard return the night of Miller's murder in blood-stained clothing.
[4][5][6] A formal application for appeal was completed in 1988, but was not considered until 1991[3] when the federal government submitted a reference question to the Supreme Court of Canada, which recommended Milgaard's conviction be set aside.
Kim Campbell, the federal minister of justice at the time, ordered that pursuant to section 690 of the Criminal Code, a new trial be held on the murder charge against Milgaard.
[4] On May 17, 1999, the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan announced that a settlement had been reached with Milgaard, and that he would be paid C$10 million compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages and legal fees.
"[12] The DNA evidence that exonerated Milgaard led police to Larry Earl Fisher (August 21, 1949 – June 10, 2015), who was renting the basement of the Cadrain family home in January 1969.
[3] Fisher, who had previously served a total of 23 years for numerous rapes committed in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, was handed a life sentence.
He had recently been appointed to the Independent Review Board Working Group, an entity whose creation was ordered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in December 2019.