Donald Marshall Case Analysis

The inquiry focused on the case being an issue of racism within the Justice System due to an unconventional fact of systemic racism, which is a society structured a certain way that then causes the system to treat minorities different than they treat the majority. There were many different points through Donald Marshall Jr.’s journey with the Supreme Court that led the inquiry to view the conviction was the cause of racism and simply not just a wrongful conviction, main reason being that there was no substantial evidence that could have placed Seale’s death in Marshall’s hands. Also that Donald Marshall Jr. was a Mi’kmaq Native man who was “worth” less in the community than the majority race (white). The main reason that the Inquiry was

prosecution, which led them to believe that there were many issues within the system that led to the wrongful conviction that needed to be fixed so another minority was not charged with a murder that was not committed by them. The Inquiry found that the investigation was not done suitably for the standards that the police, and the Crown have. The case’s evidence was insufficient due to lack of investigation at the crime scene, of the witnesses, and of the charges pursued. There was also an insufficient amount of sensitivity of this case due to the fact that it was the prosecution of a visible minority and the lack of training done on the respect to sensitivity on visible minorities. As well as the absence of sufficient review led to the wrongful conviction because they didn’t review the first eyewitness reports and relied only on the second report, which were influenced by an incompetent and unprofessional

As stated in the Marshall Inquiry there is a list of findings that the commissioners developed that proved that Marshall was wrongfully convicted. “Marshall was Native which was a factor in his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Marshall did tell the truth about the events when first interviewed by the police about the stabbing but later in the trial being accused of perjury when he made his testimony. Immediate police response and the investigation done by MacIntyre were inadequate, incompetent, and unprofessional. MacIntyre without any evidence made Marshall the main suspect and accepted only evidence that supported that theory. MacIntyre also failed to locate the two men Marshall described in his testimony and the police failed to use investigative facilities and services made available by the RCMP. The police failed to record the eyewitness testimonies. Reports were made that provided evidence of Marshall’s innocence but the officer who it was reported to failed to bring it forward to the Crown and defence counsel’s attention. The Crown Prosecutor failed to interview the key eyewitnesses. Defence counsel provided to Marshall represented him inadequately and did not pursue further investigation on their evidence. Jimmy MacNeil’s report was not