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Mainstream - The Wrong Man - The Fifth Estate CBC March 5th 2010

The Wrong Man - The Fifth Estate CBC March 5th 2010
The Fifth Estate – The Wrong Man
CBC TV Friday March 5th, 2010 9 p.m.
CBC News Network Saturday March 6th 2010 8 p.m.

If you know someone for the death penalty tie them down and make him watch The Wrong Man on CBC’s The Fifth Estate March 5th 2010 at 9 p.m.  This episode of the award winning documentary series looks at wrongful murder convictions of three men and that of a possible fourth at the hands of, to put it mildly, an overzealous crown prosecutor named George Dangerfield. It is a good documentary but tries to present too much information in too little time.

Reported by Bob McKeown, The Wrong Man first looks at the Thomas Sophonow case. Sophonow was convicted of murdering a donut shop waitress. The second case is that of Frank Ostrowski. He was convicted of murdering a police informant. In both cases, George Dangerfield withheld evidence from the defense, misrepresented other evidence, and made deals with informants to convict the men.

Both men were represented by Greg Brodsky. Brodsky is the kind of guy who believes in Santa Claus. When McKeown later asks him why the prosecution would pay an informant to testify against someone his answer is “well the guy must have been guilty.”

The oddest thing you learn in The Fifth Estate The Wrong Man is that until 1991 Canada did not have a clear law as to what the crown has to share with the defense. This does not excuse what George Dangerfield did.

Even if that changed, it did not help Kyle Unger in 1992. He did not have the same attorney as Ostrowski and Sophonow but he was convicted by George Dangerfield. Unger’s lawyer seems to believe it is the prosecution’s job to look at the job the police did in gathering evidence.

The next wrongful conviction is that of James Driskell. It is also at that time that somebody finally starts looking into Dangerfield’s tactics. This will reveal there were other highly questionable cases.

McKeown the tries to confront a now retired George Dangefield but nothing happens there.

One of the wrongfully convicted men makes this keen observation. If you or I lie in the courtroom, we go to jail. If the prosecutor lies in the courtroom, nothing happens to him?

The Wrong Man has too much story for 1 program. It is still a very good one though.