Life in prison made falsely-accused Milgaard question own innocence
by insideprison.com, May 2006
Canadian falsely-accused inmate David Milgaard spent more than
two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. The insight
into Milgaard's psychological state came at an inquiry into Milgaard's
wrongful conviction in April, 2006, in which he testified in a
video conference from his home in Vancouver. Under the assumption
that Milgaard was a murderer, correctional staff diagnosed him
with various psychological problems. "Is it possible I was
guilty?" he asked, saying that years after his conviction,
Milgaard felt he was "just really messed up mentally."
Milgaard was convicted in 1969 for raping and murdering nursing
aid Gail Miller in Saskatoon. This was when he was only 16 years
old, and passing through Saskatoon on a road trip with friends
who would later testify against Milgaard and contribute to his
conviction. One friend, Albert Cadrain, originally told investigators
that he had seen blood on Milgaard's shirt in the morning of the
murder.
In 1997, however, DNA evidence came back that cleared Milgaard
of the charges, instead implicating serial rapist Larry Fisher,
who is now in his late-fifties, having spent half his life in
prison, and who also insists that he never killed Gail Miller.
Fisher lived in the same neighborhood as Miller, was speculated
to have taken the same bus as her, and is an admitted rapist,
but denies committing the murder.
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