Donald Marshall Case Study

Donald Marshall was a Mi’kmaq man wrongfully convicted of murder at the age of 17. He was born on the Membertou Reserve in Cape Breton and his father was the Grand Chief of the Mi’kmaq. Marshall was known for delinquent behaviour and being part of the Shipyard Gang. However, he was not violent. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sandy Seale in 1971. The wrongful conviction occurred on May 28, 1971 when Seale, a 17 year old was walking home from a school dance. He came across his friend Donald Marshall in Wentworth Park located in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Marshall and Seale were talking when a man named Roy Ebsary, a drunk who had a reputation for being violent and unpredictable and was previously convicted for a knife related weapon charge, and his friend Jimmy MacNeil. MacNeil stopped them to ask for a cigarette, when drunk Ebsary stabbed Seale in the stomach and sliced Marshall’s arm. MacNeil and Ebsary fled the crime scene and Marshall went to get help. An ambulance came and got Seale to a hospital unfortunately he died in the hospital the next day.
The police were very untrained in investigating a
The police ignored this and told MacNeil that the case had been closed and the police never told Marshall’s lawyer. However, in February 1982 the RCMP began an investigation at the request of the sydney police after receiving more evidence such as Ebsary had confessed to one of his friends that he killed Seale. As well as his daughter saying he was washing blood of his knife on the night of the murder. The RCMP searched Ebsary’s former residence and were able to find the murder weapon. The knife still had fibers from the clothing of Seale and Marshall. The RCMP concluded that Ebsary was the killer and on March 29th, 1982 Marshall was released on parole and Ebsary was found guilty of manslaughter. Marshall received $250,000 in