SASKATOON — Lisa Joy’s third true crime book takes a deeper look into one of Canada’s most well-known wrongful conviction cases.
The Story David Milgaard Wanted Told: The Unfinished Fight was recently released by Joy, the award-winning former crime reporter for SaskToday. Milgaard was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing aide Gail Miller and remained in custody until 1992, when the Supreme Court of Canada overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial. He was released from prison and exonerated in 1997 when DNA proved Larry Fisher of North Battleford was the real rapist and killer.
After her encounters with Milgaard, including a 2021 webinar, Joy decided to write a book about him.
Public inquiry “whitewashed” the truth
Joy said a public inquiry in 2005 and 2006 was supposed to deliver answers, but Milgaard and his supporters argued the commissioner’s lengthy report whitewashed the truth. She said the book looks at allegations that he was framed, whether there was a cover-up, and why officials ignored the real killer while Milgaard languished in prison.
In an interview with SaskToday, Joy said there have not been many books written about the case since the inquiry into Milgaard’s conviction, and information about the inquiry came in bits and pieces.
“When you take all of those bits and pieces from everywhere and put them together, they paint quite the picture,” Joy said.
Milgaard invited Joy to the October 2021 webinar regarding his wrongful conviction. Among those attending was James Lockyer, a lawyer who co-founded Innocence Canada and represented the Milgaard family.
When she attended, Joy said she was skeptical because the inquiry was years in the rear-view mirror. But after listening to information from Lockyer and others, she came away with a new perspective.
“After the webinar, Milgaard, he was pushing me to dig harder, and he would become quite animated and talkative about the case.”
That’s the story Milgaard wanted told: that the two-year public inquiry into his wrongful conviction did not deliver the answers or accountability he sought.
Lockyer also accused the inquiry of having a pro-police judge.
“Lockyer said that right away, at the inquiry … he knew the judge running it was going to exonerate the police and exonerate the prosecutors,” said Joy.
David Asper, one of Milgaard’s main lawyers, said a good cover-up is one that is never detected. He added there were a lot of coincidences in the case, and police do not like coincidences.
“He said he's not comfortable to say there was a cover-up and that he was framed, because those are very serious allegations, and you need proof, the solid proof from that, which the inquiry didn't have,” said Joy.
“Dig deeper”
After Milgaard encouraged her to “dig deeper,” Joy spent years sifting through the information. The two remained in touch until Milgaard’s death in May 2022.
Joy wrote a story on the webinar for SaskToday, but the book includes additional material, as well as more from the inquiry and the Supreme Court of Canada after his conviction was overturned.
She said she tried to begin many chapters with Milgaard’s own words from taped interviews. She recalled that he asked if she had her tape recorder on, and he was pleased when Joy said yes.
Byron Christopher, a CBC reporter who was the first to interview Milgaard after his release, later told Joy he was surprised by how much Milgaard spoke in her story, which included a 10-minute audio clip.
“There were still things he wouldn't talk about, like his time in segregation, his time in a hole, solitary confinement. That was an absolute nightmare for him.”
Milgaard also spoke about who he thought was responsible for his wrongful conviction, Joy said.
She added that Milgaard reached out after reading her story on the Quewezance sisters, Nerissa and Odella, whom he advocated for. He told her he appreciated her thorough reporting and was impressed with her background as a private investigator.
“I think he was looking for a reporter who digs and someone who would listen to him. He was old news by then.”
Joy said her connection with Milgaard stemmed from her own experiences. As a university student in Alberta, she volunteered with a prison ministry at the Edmonton maximum security prison and once planned to become a parole officer.
“Because I had done that volunteer work in prison, I understood their culture. When I met him in person, we were sitting there talking, and he was so comfortable with me and animated, and he was talking about some of the culture in prison, and then he said ‘Well, you know that,’” she recalled.
“Don’t let those bastards win”
Joy began working on the book more than a year ago.
“Some days I would work 17 hours straight. It was brutal. And then I was so exhausted and tired,” she said.
The inquiry lasted two years, and Joy downloaded everything she could find — police reports from the initial investigation, crime scene photos, witness statements and media coverage — then added her own interviews with Milgaard.
“It was a massive, massive project, easily the biggest one I've done,” Joy said.
She sent her draft to Lockyer and Asper, who provided feedback. Asper noted missing elements and flagged new details.
“I added another chapter from Lockyer’s feedback, and David Asper, it was powerful. I cried, actually. And I did put his comments in the book. He wrote back about how in my book where I described David Asper having to go and tell David Milgaard that his first application to have the Supreme Court review his conviction was denied by [then-justice minister] Kim Campbell.”
Milgaard insisted they had to keep fighting after that setback.
“Asper said he'll never forget walking deep into the prison, into the hole, where Milgaard was being kept at the time, and having to tell him that the Supreme Court wasn't going to review his first application, and Kim Campbell wasn't going to review it,” said Joy, becoming emotional.
Asper recalls Milgaard saying “Don't let those bastards win,” before giving him a pep talk.
“He changed our legal system”
“David's story touches people like nothing else. He suffered beyond measure, more than one could ever imagine, but he came out resilient, and he turned it around and became an advocate, and he changed laws – the David and Joyce Milgaard Law. He changed our legal system, how wrongful convictions will be reviewed.”
Joy said the Milgaard book appeals more to legal issues, while her previous work focused more on crime cases. Her first book, on the murder of Tiki Laverdiere and the convictions of 10 people, sold well.
There are many Canadians who still remember the Milgaard case, Joy said, and early feedback to her new book has been strong. Milgaard’s brother was happy with it, she added, and others have said it is a story Canadians should keep talking about.
The Story David Milgaard Wanted Told: The Unfinished Fight is available through Amazon.
