Steven Truscott says he's still reeling from news of his acquittal and hasn't had time to think about whether he'll seek compensation for being wrongly convicted of murder in 1959.

Steven Truscott, right, waves as he sits with lawyer James Lockyer during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

"As you know, it's taken 48 years to get this far, so I haven't had much time to think of anything else," Truscott said at a press conference in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon.

He made his comments just hours after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice, and acquitted him of the murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper.

Her body was found in a wooded area near Clinton, Ont., on June 11, 1959, two days after she and Truscott, her classmate, went on a bicycle ride together.

Truscott, just 14 at the time, was sentenced to hang for the murder, making him Canada's youngest death-row inmate. His sentence was commuted to life in prison and he was paroled in 1969. 

Truscott said after so many disappointments, including a Supreme Court decision in 1966 not to order a retrial in his case, he never imagined he would be acquitted.

It was one of his lawyers, James Lockyer, who telephoned him with the news Tuesday morning.

Truscott, seen in this early and undated photo, was sentence to hang in 1959 for the murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper.
(Canadian Press)

"What he said didn't immediately sink in," Truscott recalled. "I was prepared for the worst, which has happened every time in the past.

"Just to hear the decision, I never in my wildest dreams expected in my lifetime for this to come true. It's a dream come true."

Truscott said even though the court didn't make an outright declaration of his innocence, he is satisfied because his name has finally been cleared. He said the acquittal will change his life mentally.

"What we've known for years and years and years, now other people will know," he said.

Crown too interested in convictions: Truscott

Truscott said he hopes other Canadians in situations similar to his will have the opportunity to clear their names too. Truscott stressed there are too many people in Ontario and other provinces being wrongly convicted.

"The justice system and the Crown fights us from the very start to the very end," he said. "The Crown chooses to not think about justice. It would almost appear they're more interested in convictions."

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant publicly apologized to Truscott on behalf of the government on Tuesday morning, and said there are no plans for an appeal. He said his government is investigating the issue of compensation.

While Truscott hasn't thought of seeking compensation, his lawyer said it could be a possibility down the road.

"For what it's worth, my own view is that Steve should get every penny he can out of the government after what he's been through," said Lockyer, who joined Truscott at the press conference.

"Charged as a 14-year-old boy, his childhood taken away from him, sentenced to death, to hang by the neck until you are dead … four months on death row, it's hard to picture for us, because we're so far away from that world."

'My wife has been my strongest supporter'

Truscott said he plans to take "a little holiday" from the legal system after fighting it for so long and he might go to Hawaii with his family.

Truscott said he survived his long battle to clear his name because of the unwavering support of his parents, his brother and sister, his three children and his wife, Marlene.

Truscott raised his family in Guelph, Ont., living out of the public eye until he came forward with his case with the help of Lockyer in 1997.

"My wife has been my strongest supporter in the world," said Truscott. "She's been there from the start. She believed in me. She never wavered."

"She's such an inspiration to me that I don't know anything else to say, other than I don't know what I would have done without her."

Truscott said he was also encouraged by the commitment of his lawyers and the concern of people who took up his cause across Canada and in places like Scotland, South Africa, Alaska and Hawaii.

He said people banded together to write e-mails and letters.

"As an individual there's very little you can do, but as a group it's insurmountable the heights you can climb," he said.