The Ontario Court of Appeal reopened the 41-year-old case of Romeo Phillion on Monday, asking a retired police officer why he never brought up Phillion's alibi at the original trial that convicted Phillion of murder.

Romeo Phillion, seen in this 2003 photo, is seeking to have his 1972 murder conviction overturned.
(J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)

Phillion spent 31 years in jail for the 1967 slaying of Ottawa firefighter Leopold Roy, who was stabbed in the heart in his apartment building.

But in 1998, documents came to light that showed that police in 1967 had cleared Phillion's name during their initial investigation of the murder. A witness said Phillion was about 300 kilometres away at the time of the crime, getting his car repaired at a service station in Trenton, Ont.

This information was never provided to lawyers when Phillion went to trial for Roy's killing in the fall of 1972 in Ottawa. On Monday at the Appeal Court in Toronto, retired officer John McCombie was asked why he never mentioned the alibi.

"I wasn't asked," McCombie told the court, as a frail-looking Phillion looked on.

McCombie said he assumed the information was included in the court record.

Phillion is the oldest person convicted of murder to seek exoneration in Canada. He has also served more time behind bars than anyone else claiming to be wrongfully convicted.

His original appeals were dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1970s.

In 2004, the federal government asked the Ontario Court of Appeal to review the case. The court has the option of either affirming Phillon's conviction, acquitting him, or referring the case back to court for a new trial.

Phillion was granted bail in 2003.

Confessed and recanted

Phillion, originally from the northern Ontario town of Cobalt, unexpectedly confessed to the stabbing when he was arrested for an attempted robbery of an Ottawa taxi driver in January 1972.

Phillion quickly recanted, explaining that he made his confession to try to take the attention off his friend, who was also charged in the robbery.

Phillion was put on trial for non-capital murder, meaning the death penalty would not be considered as punishment in his case. On Nov. 7, 1972, Phillion was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

He had been one of dozens of men questioned in the original investigation into Roy's murder, but police dropped him as a suspect when the witness came forward from Trenton.

At the time of Roy's death, Phillion had 18 convictions for theft and robbery. He was a drifter, living and working in Northern Ontario, Toronto and Ottawa.

With files from the Canadian Press