New Brunswick government reaches settlement deal with two wrongfully convicted men

FREDERICTON – Innocence Canada says a “satisfactory” conditional settlement has been reached between the New Brunswick government and two men who were wrongfully convicted of a 1983 murder.

Ron Dalton, co-president of the organization that represented Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie, says no details of the amount given to the men will be disclosed, which is one of the conditions of the settlement.

But he says the money will help the men live out the rest of their days a “little more comfortably.”

Last month, 76-year-old Mailman and 80-year-old Gillespie were acquitted by New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare in the killing of George Gilman Leeman on Nov. 30, 1983.

Gillespie served 21 years of his life sentence in prison while Mailman served 18.

Mailman has terminal liver cancer and has been told he does not have long to live, while Gillespie is surviving on a meagre pension and living in an $800-a-month single-room apartment.

Dalton says the amount from the settlement will help Mailman leave something behind for his family while Gillespie can move out of the “hovel” and also eat better.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 29, 2024.