Hearing today for 2 Saint John men whose murder convictions were overturned

Two Saint John men are set to appear in court Thursday under the presumption of innocence for the first time in nearly 40 years.

However, Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie will still each be facing a charge that they committed second-degree murder against George Gilman Leeman, whose beaten and burned body was found in Rockwood Park in November 1983.

The two were convicted in May 1984.

Following their unsuccessful appeals and efforts to get their cases reviewed, federal Justice Minister Arif Virani announced last month he was overturning the convictions and granting Mailman and Gillespie new trials. Virani said new  information led him to believe "a miscarriage of justice likely occurred."

Mailman, 76, and Gillespie, 80, are to appear at 1:30 p.m. in Saint John Court of King's Bench for the first time since the minister's decision. Although the pair have been granted a new trial, an advocate for wrongfully convicted Canadians is hoping for a quicker resolution to the case.

When the parties gather before Chief Justice Tracey DeWare, a Crown prosecutor is expected to read out the charges against the two men, followed by their entering not guilty pleas, said Ron Dalton, co-president of Innocence Canada, which is representing them legally.

He said it will then be up to the Crown to announce how it plans to proceed, which could include new trials, withdrawing the charges, staying the charges, or agreeing with a motion from the men's defence lawyers to have the charges dismissed.

"The Crown will have to decide if they would like to try and pursue new trials for these gentlemen after 40 years, which, frankly nobody really expects ... or if they will simply join the defence in a motion to have the charges dismissed, which is what we're hopeful for," Dalton said.

CBC News asked the provincial Department of Justice for an interview Wednesday about how Crown prosecutors plan to proceed with the case.

Spokesperson Allan Dearing said no one from the department would comment on the case because it's still before the courts.

Virani's decision came after lawyers with Innocence Canada applied to the federal Department of Justice in 2019 to review the case.

Dalton said in order for the convictions to be overturned, his colleagues had to "undermine just about all the evidence" presented at the trial in 1984.

"We don't feel that there's a lot of room for the Crown to manoeuvre at this point," Dalton said. "Most of the previous evidence has been discounted at this point."

Key evidence in the trial included eye-witness testimony from a woman and a teenage boy who said they saw Mailman and Gillespie committing the crime. A year later, they both recanted their stories.