AJAs 2024 Finalists
Justice delayed: New Brunswick men cleared of murder charges decades later
| Slug/Label | Justice-Delayed |
|---|---|
| Date Aired or Published | Jan. 4, 11, 12, 2024 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | The Canadian Press |
| Name of Program: | |
| If co-produced, list partner: | |
| Location: | Fredericton/Saint John |
| List awards, grants: | |
| Running time (TV/Radio): | |
|
Short explanation of the story and how it developed: Outside the courthouse in Saint John, N.B., it had been a scene of jubilation after Walter Gillespie and Robert Mailman finally had their names cleared on Jan. 4, 2024. The men’s lawyer spoke of the long battle to overturn a wrongful murder conviction, Gillespie said a few words, and for many, the story ended there. But Canadian Press Fredericton correspondent Hina Alam was determined to tell a fuller story, and her persistence led to the first interviews with the two men after their exoneration. The resulting feature got wide play in media across the country, as Alam provided a glimpse into the lives that awaited the men after their legal victory. Her writing vividly captured the scene inside Gillespie’s cramped Saint John apartment and its echoes of the prison cells in which he spent 21 years of his life. Her humanity as a reporter allowed the two men to open up with details about their personal lives. Gillespie feared he would never truly escape the cloud of the conviction. Mailman, living with a terminal cancer diagnosis, said he didn’t want his great-grandchildren to see the shape he was in. Alam’s concise writing illustrated both the toll the convictions took on Mailman and Gillespie and the strength of their enduring friendship. Most importantly, the attention she drew to their plight and the story’s concluding plea from Mailman amplified pressure on the New Brunswick government to provide the two men with swift compensation. That was done at the end of February; less than two months later, Gillespie died after a fall in his apartment. |
|
|
Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: Hina Alam is The Canadian Press correspondent in Fredericton, responsible for covering news out of New Brunswick and P.E.I. She works closely with our reporters in Halifax and our correspondent in St. John's, N.L. In addition to hunting down enterprise stories like those submitted here, the Atlantic team together is expected to keep the wire filled with daily print stories, video, audio and regional broadcast reports. |
|