Manitoba lawyer behind multiple wrongful convictions remembered as 'adept prosecutor' with complicated legacy

A former star prosecutor for the Crown, whose legacy has been tarnished over the last three decades after several of the people he sent to jail were found to have been innocent, is dead.

George Dangerfield died on Sept. 10, 2023, said Jay Prober, the lawyer who represented him in numerous matters including the 2006 inquiry into the wrongful conviction of James Driskell.

Though it happened more than a year ago, CBC learned of his death only recently. No obituary for Dangerfield appears to have been published.

Dangerfield, a life bencher of the Law Society of Manitoba, served as a Crown prosecutor in Manitoba for decades until his retirement in the late 1990s.

He presided over the convictions of seven men who have since been exonerated: Driskell, Thomas Sophonow, Kyle Unger, Frank Ostrowski, and Brian Anderson, Allan and Clarence Woodhouse —  three of the men charged in the 1973 killing of Ting Fong Chan.

Combined, the men spent close to 100 years in prison.

James Lockyer, lawyer and director of Innocence Canada — the advocacy organization that helped exonerate the men — said what connects most of the cases is the Crown's failure to disclose key evidence to the defence. 

In 1981, Sophonow was convicted of strangling 16-year-old Barbara Stoppel partly based on a confession he allegedly gave to jailmates, with the Crown not revealing they'd agreed to drop charges against one informant in exchange for their testimony.

Ostrowski's lawyers were also not informed about a deal between the Crown and a key witness, who had some drug possession charges stayed after Ostrowski was convicted for ordering the killing of Robert Nieman in 1986.

During the inquiry into Driskell's conviction for the murder of Perry Dean Harder, Dangerfield said he'd known a key witness who was paid tens of thousands of dollars and given immunity by police had lied in the 1991 trial. Dangerfield testified he didn't know why he didn't disclose it then.

Playing fair

"My reading of Mr. Dangerfield is that he believed in what he was doing. Probably a little … more than he should have," Lockyer said.

"Mr. Dangerfield was certainly an adept prosecutor … but I'm afraid he didn't always play it fair. And it's essential in our business, given the stakes, that we always play fair. And I think Mr. Dangerfield crossed boundaries too often that he shouldn't have crossed."

But Prober, who also cross-examined Dangerfield as counsel to Barbara Stoppel's family in the Sophonow inquiry, said the lawyer has been "tattooed with a wrongful reputation."

"To lay these wrongful convictions at his doorstep, each one of them, is unfair.… Based on what I knew, he was a fair prosecutor," said Prober.

"Most, if not all … [defence lawyers] at that time when he was prosecuting all of these high-profile cases, we all have the same view."

Prober said there may have been several factors at play in each of the wrongful convictions, and he doesn't believe  Dangerfield is the sole person responsible in all of them.

He pointed to the 2001 inquiry report by late Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, which found police developed "tunnel vision" around Sophonow as Stoppel's killer, and recommending against the use of jailhouse informants' testimony in most cases.

Prober said some of the issues may also be a product of the times.

In October, Manitoba King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said systemic racism led to the wrongful conviction of Clarence Woodhouse. Courts previously heard racism was also a factor with Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse's convictions.

Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were acquitted in Chan's death in July 2023. Clarence Woodhouse was acquitted earlier this year. All three men were from Pinaymootang First Nation.

"Systemic racism played a role," Lockyer said. It "permeated the police investigations, permeated the prosecution, which were, I'm afraid, by Mr. Dangerfield, and even permeated the judiciary."

Russell Woodhouse — Clarence's brother, charged with manslaughter in the death — died in prison in 2011. An application to posthumously review his conviction is currently under review.

The case of Robert Sanderson, also prosecuted by Dangerfield, is still making its way through the Manitoba Court of Appeal. 

'Complicated man'

Jill Duncan, who first met Dangerfield as part of the defence team in the 1992 Unger case, said he was a "complicated man" who was elegant, respectful and articulate. He was also an actor, appearing in films like 2005's Capote in a small role after his retirement.

"He loved acting, which isn't surprising given how theatrical he was in the courtroom," Duncan said.

"The man that I knew was very different than how he has been portrayed — rightfully portrayed — in the media regarding his conduct during various prosecutions."

Duncan said that for years, Dangerfield prosecuted all of the high-profile cases in Manitoba, and that the wrongful convictions could be attributed to his effectiveness as a prosecutor and his workload.

But she added that ultimately, most people will remember him for his mistakes.

"As far as he was concerned, he did nothing wrong," Prober said. "He worked with what information he received from the police and did a very good job in persuading the jury that those people were guilty. And I'm sure he believed that at the time."

Lockyer said that the "staggering" number of wrongful convictions will inevitably affect how Dangerfield is remembered.

"One would expect and hope that the Winnipeg Police Service is far more cautious and has a great deal more integrity than it did back in the Dangerfield days," he said. "You would hope that it's had an impact on the prosecutors, and I believe it has."