the fifth estate uncovers evidence that a possible suspect was never investigated by the OPP. more

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TIME OF DEATH

If there was one thing that convinced the jury of Steven Truscott's guilt, it was the medical evidence. Children's memories could be faulty. But surely science never lies.

The medical doctors who testified for the prosecution spoke with a certitude that left no room for doubt in the minds of the jury, testifying with inspired confidence that Lynn Harper had died during the half-hour or so that she'd been with Steven Truscott.

The local coroner, Dr. John Penistan, was able to pinpoint the murder with a remarkable precision. Relying mainly on the analysis of Lynn's stomach contents he placed the time of death precisely in the half-hour window between 7:15 pm and 7:45 pm --- an astonishing precision even with the forensic tools available today. See an excerpt from his original autopsy report.

See the full final autopsy report and the initial autopsy report. (.pdf files)

But years later, Dr.Penistan would make a stunning reversal of his findings, substantially revising his certainty of the half-hour timeframe:

"All findings are compatible with death within 2 hours of Lynn's last meal. They are not incompatible with death at a later time (up to 12 hours or even longer)."
- Department of Pathology Stratford General Hospital, Memo, Stamped Received May 31, 1966 OPP

"The state of decomposition in Lynn's body is considered fully compatible with death about 48 hours prior to autopsy, but it is not incompatible with death a day previously or a day later."
- From Penistan's Review of Findings, May 1966, page 7

"All findings are compatible with death within 2 hours of Lynn's last meal. However - the state of the stomach content is also compatible with death at a later hour provided that digestion and emptying were delayed by some physical or psychological episode occurring within approximately 2 hours of the last meal."
- From Penistan Review of Findings, page 14

OPP Inspector Harold Graham also said one of the key factors which led him to arrest Truscott on Friday June 12 was a report from the Attorney-General's laboratory that Lynn Harper had died "not more than two hours" after eating supper. The jury was told by the prosecution that the laboratory backed up Dr. Penistan's conclusion about the precise time of death. But is this accurate?

Here is an excerpt from a speech Graham made in 1966:

"On the late afternoon of Friday, June 12th, we received information from officials of the Attorney General's Laboratory (now the Centre of Forensic Sciences) that after their examination of the stomach contents, it was their opinion that the meal they had been examining the contents, had been ingested not more than two hours prior to Lynne's death."

Here is an excerpt from a police report that details how Graham would have heard about the estimated time of death - by telephone.

But the fifth estate obtained the official report from the AG's lab, written on August 19 - one month before the trial began. Here is the front page.

It makes no reference at all to a time of death. The only reference is the following note, "suggests an early state of digestion". See note.

Dr. John Funk and Dr. Noble Sharpe were never called to testify during the original trial, so we will never know if they would have agreed with Dr. Penistan and Inspector Graham in narrowing the time of death with such precision.

Dr. Noble Sharpe, one of the pathologists who analyzed the stomach contents, was far less definitive in a memorandum he wrote in 1966. He wrote: "Stomach contents may carry more weight in court than they are entitled to. I criticized to Dr. Penistan his evidence in that he did not mention the variables which effect stomach content ... Had I been in court I would have said ... ‘between one and two hours after the meal' but I think I would have added ‘it might have been later'

These nuances were never presented to the jury. As far as they were concerned, the narrow time of death fixed by Dr. John Penistan had been endorsed by the Attorney-General's laboratory.

Here are excerpts from Sharpe's report.