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Cases we Consider for Review (Eligibility guidelines)

Applications for review will be assessed under the following guidelines:

• does the applicant claim to be factually innocent of a serious offence?;
• has the applicant appealed to the BC Court of Appeal or attempted through legal aid to appeal his or her conviction?;
• was the applicant sentenced to a significant term of imprisonment?;
• does the applicant have the financial means to hire a private lawyer to review his or her case?; and
• is the applicant’s file being reviewed by any other agency or lawyer?

Note

The UBC Innocence Project will consider cases with OR without DNA evidence available.

Consideration for review of a case may be dependent on whether there is any important new evidence or new testing available which would assist a claim of wrongful conviction. In cases where physical or scientific evidence was an issue at trial, the Project will review a case to see if new technologies may assist.

Applicants do not need to be currently incarcerated to have their case considered for review.

Please note that even if a case fits within the guidelines set out above, due to staffing limitations, the Project maintains the discretion to reject an application for review.

The Application Review Process

Step 1 - Application

When a complete and legible application form is received by the UBC Innocence Project, a law student will review it to ensure that it falls within the eligibility guidelines set out above.

Step 2 – initial assessment

If the case falls within the eligibility guidelines, it will be assigned to a law student for an initial assessment. This initial assessment may include an interview with the applicant, interviews with witnesses, and/or a review of case documents and evidence. The student will conduct this work under the supervision of the Director of the Project and a practicing criminal defence lawyer in British Columbia (lawyer mentor). When this review is complete, the student will prepare an opinion as to whether the Project should conduct a more detailed review of the case.

Step 3 – detailed assessment

If a detailed review of the case is recommended, all of the transcripts and case documents will be ordered and reviewed by the student under the supervision of the Director and his or her mentor lawyer. Further investigation may be conducted at this stage and forensic testing may be required if the case involved biological evidence. At the end of this review, the student will write a detailed case evaluation outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the case and recommending whether the Project should accept the case. This evaluation will be presented to a subcommittee of the Dean’s Advisory Committee and a final decision will be made as to whether the UBC Innocence Project will continue with the case.

Step 4 – application to the minister

If the Project agrees to continue with the case, outside counsel will be retained and the assigned law student will assist the lawyer in preparing an Application to the Minister of Justice to have the conviction reviewed under s.696.1 of the Criminal Code.

How to apply

Applications must be complete and clearly written to be considered for review.

Download Application Form

To request that an application form be sent to you please contact:

UBC Innocence Project

Peter A. Allard School of Law

Allard Hall, 1822 East Mall
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C., V6T-1Z1
Phone: (604) 827-3616
Fax: (604) 827-3585

e-mail: innocenceproject@allard.ubc.ca

Cases We Consider for Review (“Eligibility Guidelines”)

Applications for review will be assessed under the following guidelines:

1. Did the crime for which the applicant was convicted occur in British Columbia?

2. Does the applicant claim to be factually innocent of an indictable offence?

For the purposes of the UBC Innocence Project, “factually innocent” means:

• that you are not the person who committed the crime or any included offence; you were not involved in any part of the crime,

OR

• that the physical act alleged to have been a crime did not in fact occur. For example, an individual was convicted of murder for strangling his wife but it was later discovered that she choked. Another example is a case in which the prisoner was convicted of murder for pushing the deceased down the stairs but it was later determined that she fell.

3. Was the applicant sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 or more years?

4. Was the applicant convicted of homicide or sexual assault?

Please note that the UBC Innocence Project will NOT consider convictions of sexual assault where the issue at trial was credibility and there is no new and significant evidence to rebut the credibility finding made at trial (i.e. a known, reliable recantation by the complainant).

5. Did the applicant appeal or attempt to appeal the conviction to the Court of Appeal and/or the Supreme Court of Canada?

6. Is the applicant’s file being reviewed by any other agency or lawyer?

The UBC Innocence Project at the Allard School of Law will consider cases with OR without DNA evidence available. Consideration for review of a case may be dependent on whether there is any important new evidence or new testing available which would assist a claim of wrongful conviction. In cases where physical or scientific evidence was an issue at trial, the Project will review a case to see if new technologies may assist.

Applicants need not be currently incarcerated to have their case considered for review; however, the Project will give priority to those applicants who are still incarcerated. Please note that even if a case fits within the guidelines set out above, in an attempt to allocate scarce resources, the Project maintains the discretion to reject an application for review.