Canadian cleared of 1959 murder

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The youngest Canadian ever to face a death sentence has been acquitted of rape and murder, 48 years after he was sentenced to hang at the age of 14.

The Ontario court unanimously ruled that the conviction of Steven Truscott, now aged 62, was "a miscarriage of justice, and must be quashed".

Mr Truscott was convicted of raping and killing Lynne Harper, 12, in southern Ontario, in 1959.

He was released on parole in 1969, after serving 10 years.

Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976.

"It's a dream come true," an emotional Mr Truscott told a press conference.

"For 48 years I was considered guilty. I knew myself, and my family knows, that I never was," he said.

"I never in my wildest dreams expected in my lifetime for this to come true."

Autopsy findings

Truscott's death penalty, which was handed down in an adult court three months after the murder, sparked a nationwide debate and his sentence was commuted to life in jail in 1960.

The Canadian government reopened the case in 2002, and it was formally referred for review by the Ontario court of appeal two years later.

Mr Truscott, who always proclaimed his innocence, said he gave the girl a ride on his bicycle and then saw her get into a passing car on a rural highway.

The original prosecution case said an autopsy report into the time of death proved that Mr Truscott was present when the girl was murdered.

However, the appeal court heard that pathology evidence showed the time was "scientifically untenable", and that Lynne Harper could have died as much as a day later, when Mr Truscott was in school.

Ontario's attorney general, Michael Bryant, apologised to Mr Truscott on behalf of the government.