Innocence on Trial: The Framing of Ivan Henry

by Joan McEwen

In early-1980s Vancouver, Ivan Henry was an ex-convict still adjusting to civilian life when he was detained on a break-and-enter charge. A short time later he found himself on trial for ten charges of sexual assault--crimes he vehemently denied committing. Henry spent twenty-seven years in prison before a 2010 DNA test proved his innocence and secured his release. To this day, however, he has not been compensated or publicly exonerated. This is a powerful, heartbreaking, frustrating story of justice miscarried and an innocent man who fell through the cracks.

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2014

Reviews

[Dennis Bolen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2009, Ivan William Mervin Henry was released from a federal penitentiary by order of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, twenty-seven years after a provincial court trial that, according to Joan McEwen's exhaustive 'Innocence on Trial', seems certainly to have been unjust. Whether a tale of malicious prosecution or not, the book is at least a parable of how unfortunate a person can be; how a particular oddball dived through the legal cracks, plummeted past judicial safeguards and paid with a large chunk of his life for the simple sin of being obnoxious. The author ably chronicles this life-long tumble. We well know Mr. Henry by the time he is accused of numerous sex crimes and stands before a judge and prosecutors declaring: 'You're all a bunch of assholes.'

In a deftly dramatized prologue, Ms McEwen, a Vancouver labour lawyer, outlines the odd route she took from being a distant observer of Mr. Henry's tribulations to committing to present his story to the world. Having observed one of Ivan's TV interviews, she was intrigued by his unique character and arranged a face-to-face meeting in a coffee shop. His narration of an absurdly biased trial and resulting decades-long incarceration inspired Ms McEwen to conduct years of investigation on her own. Over time she found more and more evidence of a legal system that could not check and balance itself enough to prevent a chain of transgressions from wronging a difficult and disadvantaged individual.

Indeed, this is the saga of a man so bellicose, whose judgments were so ill-considered and presentation so rough-hewn that few individuals on either side of the law could relate to him. Essentially friendless, with a substance-abusing spouse, criminal record and a reputation as a knock-around street dweller, Mr Henry was inevitably assumed by police to be an habitual criminal, always up to something. This can be the only explanation—and a good deal of this book's condemnatory premise—of why they chose to short-cut, ignore and otherwise run roughshod over their own policies in regard to the treatment of detainees, evidence, and suspect identification. One glance at the bizarre post-lineup photo, with a struggling Ivan Henry trussed by three police officers along a rank of smirking foils, should have been enough for the Crown to dismiss the probity of the investigation.

The trial was marked by near-comedic adversity for Mr. Henry. Distrustful of lawyers in general, he was negatively impressed to see his initial court-appointed counsel exchange a handshake and pleasantries with the prosecutor. This led to a grievous legal mistake: representing himself. Late in the trial, after weeks of mind-muddling court procedure, he conceded his folly to the judge, whose ears at that point seemed closed: 'You should have thought about that before...You had a lawyer, and you fired him.' In fact, Ivan had compounded his blunder by denying the help—provided through Legal Aid—of Richard Peck, one of the nation's premier criminal lawyers.

Soon after conviction Ivan Henry was judged to be a 'dangerous offender', a designation that carries an indefinite sentence. His DO status eventually allowed parole reviews, but early release for the purpose of societal reintegration is seldom granted to inmates unrepentant of their crimes. He worked tirelessly over the decades to find grounds for a review, mostly unsuccessful. But after the intense investigations of the missing women cases revealed several other potential suspects for the crimes he was convicted of, Ivan finally attained some degree of satisfaction when the appeal court set him free. In one of many strong points of the book, Joan McEwen discusses the subtle yet significant difference between 'not guilty', as Mr. Henry was ruled to be, and 'innocent', which he was not.

Seemingly despised by those who drove the legal juggernaut down on him—he was described by a former court clerk as '...a horrible, horrible man'—Ivan Henry went before the highest court in the land seeking damages for malicious prosecution. Though the standard of proof in such cases is exceedingly high and a final decision did not come immediately, Mr Henry was eventually awarded eight million dollars for his ordeal.

In any protracted saga involving legal proceedings there is necessarily a plethora of fact and argument. In 'Innocence on Trial' these are not always as logically presented as the non-legally trained reader might require, but they do create a suitable picture of the confusing intricacies, the circuitous mental maze and esoteric legalese that must have frustrated Mr Henry in his struggle to present a cogent case. Also, the book's narrative style, while succinct, occasionally falls into character-speak, abandoning the third-person point of view to abruptly inhabit the protagonist's mind. This is disconcerting, particularly in the first half, as it is sometimes uncertain if what is being presented is material from the transcripts, personal interviews, or the author's speculation of the defendant's inner thoughts.

Nevertheless, there is power in a discussion of the importance of proper police, judicial and prosecutorial conduct. 'Innocence on Trial' makes it clear that there is a larger issue, not solely in the interest of preventing harm toward one obstreperous man; if police don't practice objectivity, prosecutors do not discount slanted evidence and judges gel their attitude toward accused persons, no-one is safe. The result: contempt for democratically administered laws becomes rampant, victims multiply, an onslaught of miscreants overwhelm the police, the courts become swamped, prisons fill up beyond capacity and become advanced schools of crime.

Joan McEwen, in this worthy volume, points out a more blatant case of when our legal system let a particular individual down. She warns the rest of us that we would do best to sit up and take notice.

[Ryan Hannay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although there's no doubt Ivan Henry got railroaded, he's such a hateable guy and practiced so much self sabotage that it's hard to really root for him. Still, there's some interesting facts about Canada's justice system and how they've dealt with overturned verdicts and exonerations throughout history.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book shows us yet another example that “justice” has very little to do with a person’s innocence or guilt, but rather rests on the ability (or lack thereof) of their lawyer. It's an interesting read, although the writing is somewhat repetitive.

[Manvir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book looking into Ivan Henry's wrongful conviction. Gives an in depth look into the work he put in to prove his innocence and the difficulty an individual faces when the society looks down on you.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts on this book are in this wrap up.