Manitoba court quashes murder convictions for Métis man who spent decades in prison
A Métis man who spent more than two decades in prison had his murder convictions quashed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal last week.
In 1997, Robert Sanderson was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the August 1996 killings of Jason Gross, Russel Krowetz and Stefan Zurstag at a home in West Kildonan.
Sanderson was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.
He has always maintained his innocence.
He appealed his convictions in 1999, but the appeal was dismissed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Later that year, Sanderson was denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 2017, 20 years after he was convicted, Innocence Canada applied for a ministerial review of Sanderson's case, the organization said in a Monday news release.
Flawed DNA testing conducted on a hair found at the scene had connected Sanderson to the crime at the time of his conviction. More advanced tests done in the mid-2000s showed that the hair samples didn't match Sanderson or the two other men who were charged in the case.
Other new evidence considered by the appeal court was that an eyewitness was given "substantial sums of money by the authorities pursuant to an agreement after he testified at the trial," Innocence Canada said.
Sanderson was denied bail in 2018, but was released on full parole a short time later.
After his release, Sanderson told CBC News in 2023 that he had found healing through embracing his culture and creating art inspired by his Métis and Ojibway heritage. He moved to Victoria, B.C.
In 2023, then-federal justice minister David Lametti found there was likely a miscarriage of justice in Sanderson's case. Lametti referred the case to the Manitoba Court of Appeal for a new hearing.
Last week, the court quashed the convictions and ordered a new trial. Innocence Canada said in its news release that the Crown has advised the court "it will exercise its discretion and enter a stay of proceedings on public interest grounds."
CBC News has reached out to the Crown and Innocence Canada for further comment.
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