‘I got through pen time by knowing I was innocent’
Man convicted in Galloway Boys shooting released from prison after murder charge is stayed
After 13 years in custody, Jason Wisdom is a free man — but his thoughts are still troubled by what he feels was the wrongfulness of his conviction.
Wisdom, who was convicted of firstdegree murder in a shooting tied to the notorious Galloway Boys gang, believes the jury found him guilty not because the Crown proved he was one of the triggermen, but based on evidence he was in a gang, sold drugs and kept “bad company.”
“There’s three large black guys there (in the prisoners’ box) — better just to say guilty than let a murderer out free,” Wisdom said.
“That’s the last thing the public wants.”
In an interview last week in the midtown Toronto office of his lawyer, James Lockyer — who argued the appeal that led to Wisdom’s release a day earlier — he reflected on the ordeal.
Eight summers ago, Wisdom and co-accused Tyshan Riley and Philip Atkins yelled and pounded the Plexiglas dividers separating them after jurors found them guilty of murder, attempted murder and murder to benefit a criminal organization — a band of hardscrabble youth known as the Galloway Boys. It had been the largest street gang prosecution in Canadian history.
The Crown’s theory was that the drive-by shooting was a case of mistaken identity, alleging that Riley — the gang’s leader — his close associate Atkins and Wisdom ambushed a vehicle, believing the occupants were rival gang members from Malvern, a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city.
Riley and Atkins did not testify. But Wisdom did, and admitted he’d become involved in “criminal activity” after dropping out of high school — preferring the more lucrative dollars that came from selling drugs to the money earned washing dishes at a local restaurant.
When it came to the double shooting, Wisdom addressed the jury directly. He said he was not one of the shooters who killed Brenton Charlton or seriously wounded his friend Leonard Bell, as the two men waited for the light to turn green. Wisdom said he was at home watching TV at the time — a story backed by his mother’s testimony but ripped apart by the Crown as unreliable.
Bell, a general contractor shot multiple times on March 3, 2004, said his initial reaction to Wisdom’s release was “disgust.”
“I was satisfied with the police investigation that led to the convictions,” Bell told the Star over the Thanksgiving weekend.
But Bell added that “no one who is innocent should be in prison.”
Riley, Atkins and Wisdom each received life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Back in Lockyer’s office last week, Wisdom repeated the denial he made in 2009.
“Leonard’s got to know I didn’t shoot at him,” Wisdom said, turning to look into the lens of a video camera — similar to his direct appeal to the jury. “I got through pen time better by knowing that I was innocent.”
He added later: “I wasn’t a gun guy. I sold drugs, smoked some weed with the guys. I wasn’t … shooting — that’s a different step.” Before his arrest for murder when he was19, Wisdom had a couple of driving offences and one drug trafficking conviction.
The reason for Wisdom’s release relates to some of the evidence pre- sented during the trial. In August, the province’s highest court ruled that details about his participation in a botched attempt to steal $100,000 from a cheque-cashing outlet should not have been allowed and had a “significant prejudicial effect” on jurors.
“Given the relative weakness of the Crown’s case against Wisdom, it is not possible to conclude the admission of that evidence did not result in a miscarriage of justice,” the Court of Appeal decision said. The court rejected the grounds of appeal for Atkins and Riley.
A new trial for Wisdom was ordered. But last week, the Crown announced it would instead stay the charges.
“After the Court of Appeal ruled that some of the evidence called at the first trial was inadmissible, the Crown carefully examined all aspects of the remaining evidence in this case,” Emilie Smith, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Attorney General, wrote in an email.
“After completing that review and giving the matter very careful con- sideration, the Crown concluded that with the evidence that remained there was no reasonable prospect of conviction and stayed the charges.”
The Crown could still prosecute Wisdom again within a year. Lockyer said he will be asking instead that the charges be withdrawn. The ministry would not comment on his request.
During the trial, there were no witnesses, no fingerprints, no DNA, no guns, no wiretapped confessions.
The Crown based much of its case on two witnesses. The defence branded them unsavoury liars.
The prosecution used the witnesses’ corroborative testimony to help prove its case against Riley and Atkins. Not so with Wisdom.
One of the witnesses, Roland Ellis, implicated Wisdom in a sworn statement, which led police to charge him, in April 2005, with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting of Charlton and Bell.
Wisdom said last week “that’s where I think the mistake started from, and it just spiralled.”
The ministry spokesperson did not respond to the Star’s request asking if an attempt had been made to locate Ellis, who was under police guard while testifying in 2009.
“I believe if they found him, it wouldn’t matter to me much,” Wisdom said last week.
He prefers to think about what lies ahead. Lockyer points to his client’s “remarkable” record behind bars.
After Toronto police advised Fenbrook Institution, the medium-security prison near Gravenhurst, that he was no longer an “active member of the Galloway Boys,” Wisdom was elected vice-chair of the inmate committee three years in a row. He said he also spent his prison time reading — he often had a book with him during the trial — and taking business management courses, playing basketball and working out.
“I just can’t wait to live a pro-social life — no crime, no jaywalking, none of that stuff,” he said. “I was a young man and made bad choices. I’m sure a lot of young men do. And that 13 years, boy, straightened me out . . . I didn’t deserve it, but I learned a lot.”