THE STORY BEHIND SUSPICION

Over the course of a year, the Leader-Post dug into a range of sources for the Suspicion series.

Regina Fire Department reports of the 1974 Rosedale Manor blaze were obtained through an Access to Information request. A report by the provincial fire commissioner’s office couldn’t be unearthed, despite three access requests.

Michael Morrison’s family made available correspondence he had received from his lawyer Jeff Deagle in preparation for a preliminary hearing. That information included typed summaries prepared by Deagle of the Crown’s evidence, gathered by police.

Deagle says his summaries gave Morrison details that exonerated and also implicated him, so he could be fully prepared. Trust conditions prohibited Deagle from copying or handing over to Morrison — or anyone else — the actual evidence the Crown disclosed to the defence.

Morrison’s sister, the executor of her brother’s estate, waived solicitor-client privilege to allow Deagle to speak freely about conversations with Morrison.

Any information regarding an application by police to tap Morrison’s phones remains sealed by the court.

The documents were supplemented by other interviews, newspaper archives and Morrison’s final letters to shape the fourpart series. Both the Regina Police Service and Ministry of Justice declined to provide any information about the Rosedale investigation or to discuss it.