A decades-old murder conviction of a man who had served his sentence drew a challenge before the Supreme Court of Ontario. The defense, represented by The Innocence Project, had attempted to overturn the original conviction not by DNA or the presence of an alternative perpetrator (the more customary means of identifying wrongful convictions). Rather, the defense presenting the opinion and then testimony of Gisli Gudjonsson, Ph.D., a British psychologist closely associated with false confession claims.
The Forensic Panel, retained by the Crown to review the scientific merit of the defense expert’s opinion, was instrumental in exposing Dr. Gudjonsson’s flawed methodology and the lack of scientific foundation to Gudjonsson’s opinion, notwithstanding his stature as a researcher. After a Daubert-like hearing in which The Forensic Panel’s specialist testified, Gudjonsson was subsequently excluded from testifying in the proceeding, which resolved on unrelated grounds.
