Thomas Sophonow (born March 1953[1]) is a Canadian who was wrongfully convicted of murder and whose case was the subject of a major judicial inquiry. Sophonow was tried three times in the 1981 murder of doughnut-shop clerk Barbara Stoppel. Sophonow spent four years imprisoned. In 1985, he was acquitted by the Manitoba Court of Appeal.[2] A commission of inquiry was called by the province of Manitoba which led to the 2001 release of the Thomas Sophonow Inquiry Report.[3][4][5] This inquiry was led by former Supreme Court justice Peter Cory.[2] As a result of this report, Manitoba revised its policy of using prisoners in-custody as informants. This policy is located at Appendix F of the report.[6] The inquiry also made 43 recommendations[2] of which 11 related to the Province of Manitoba.[5]

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References

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  1. ^ "Thomas Sophonow's background". Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  2. ^ a b c Canada's wrongful convictions - Cases where the courts got it wrong Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Wrongly Convicted Database Record Archived 2011-05-31 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  4. ^ Province Calls Commission of Inquiry into Thomas Sophonow Case Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Sophonow Inquiry Report Released Archived 2016-10-23 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  6. ^ Thomas Sophonow Inquiry Report Archived 2013-07-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 21, 2011.