Suspicion: Murder on Mount Olive

Kevin Donovan’s conversation with Canada’s Dean of lawyers who advocates for the wrongfully convicted. James Lockyer talks about the new federal plan that could one day free Chris Sheriffe.

There can be problems when using confidential informants and hearsay evidence, especially when a man’s freedom is at stake. Lawyer Dean Embry’s conversation with Kevin Donovan provides a back story for our Murder on Mount Olive investigation.

In this bonus episode, we hear a top cop’s story of being Black and on the job in one of Canada’s biggest police forces.  Listen to Keith Merith’s conversation with Kevin Donovan, providing a back story for our Murder on Mount Olive investigation.

It’s now been 13 years. Chris reflects on decisions he made. The friends he had. Staying out that hot night in August instead of going home. And on what he would do if he is ever released. In the final episode of the series, we offer him a potential lifeline. Tell us what really happened between you and Awet, what he said, what he was planning to do that day. Surely this was a drug deal gone wrong.

A trial scheduled for one month becomes two. The Judge is not pleased. It’s now down to 12 jurors to determine Chris and Awet’s fate – but the lone Black juror gets sick so now it’s 11. Among the evidence the jury hears: false DNA evidence that’s not corrected; a transcription of Chris’s own words that is incorrect and not corrected; and the recollections of two police officers whose notes are strikingly similar. And then the jury comes in. At the end of the day, Chris knows that if he had stepped up and said he was involved in the shooting he’d have gotten a deal and would be out of prison by now. But there’s a reason he will never do that. Audio: CPAC, Ontario Jury Video, EatonCentreShooting, Global TV, Essex County News