The Manitoba Justice Department gave in to demands for money from a witness who testified against James Driskell at his murder trial, according to documents tabled Monday at the inquiry into his wrongful conviction.

The demands came from John Gumieny, a witness who testified against Driskell at his murder trial 15 years ago.

Driskell was sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of his friend, Perry Harder in 1991. Harder had been shot several times in the chest in September 1990 in Winnipeg.

After testifying, Gumieny was placed in a witness protection program for six months.

In RCMP documents tabled at the inquiry Monday, one justice official called the demands for payment nothing less than extortion. Justice officials expressed in the documents how they didn't want to give in to the demands, but they did anyway.

The documents show Gumieny threatened both police and justice officials more than once.

An internal Winnipeg Police Service document said Gumieny "stated if he doesn't get what is promised to him, he will contact Driskell's lawyer and the investigator hired by the lawyer and relate that he was coaxed into fabricating some of his evidence, unless he receives what was promised to him."

Federal justice officials quashed Driskell's conviction in March 2005, saying they believed a "miscarriage of justice" had likely occurred in the case. The Manitoba government stayed the charges, which keeps Driskell out of prison but does not officially exonerate him.

The inquiry is scheduled to run for five weeks.