Immediately upon being convicted, Gary Staples was sentenced to spend the remainder of his natural life in prison, and was transferred to the Kingston Penitentiary to serve this sentence.
Gary Staples was being held in Kingston Penitentiary when a small handful of prisoners rioted and took control of the prison for four days in April, 1971. During this time a number of prisoners were brutally tortured and mutilated by the rioters, and one prisoner was clubbed to death. Gary Staples and the other prisoners who refused to take part in the riot witnessed these acts, and lived in fear of imminent death for four days. Mr. Staples was almost shot when authorities re-took control of the penitentiary, and although he had not participated in the riot, was subjected to beatings by prison guards, who took reprisals against all of the prisoners after the riot.
Gary appealed his conviction to what was then the called the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Ontario. In a unanimous decision handed down on October 21, 1971, the Honourable Messrs. Justice Schroeder and Arnup, along with the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Honourable Mr. Justice Gale, admitted fresh evidence on appeal, set aside the conviction and ordered that there be a new trial.
The fresh evidence consisted of affidavits from the independent witnesses who verified Gary Staples' alibi, and in particular who verified his whereabouts in Dunnville throughout the entire evening of December 5, 1969.
In addition, an independent witness gave evidence that Mary Conklin was not even home on the evening of Friday, December 5, 1969, (and hence could not have been present for Gary Staples supposed confession). Further, the same independent witness told of witnessing a dispute between Gary Staples and Mary Conklin on the afternoon of Saturday, December 6, 1969, during which Mary Conklin was angry specifically because Gary Staples had NOT come to visit her on the evening of Friday, December 5, 1969.
The fresh evidence admitted on appeal had not been available at the time of the first trial because of the witnesses' reluctance to become involved and because of the failure of the Hamilton Police to adequately investigate Mr. Staples' alibi, even though they had long been apprised of it.
Indeed, it took the courage and dedication of Gary's mother, Mrs. Emma Staples, to continue in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to locate the witnesses that the police did not. (Even though the police had far greater resources than Mrs. Staples, and the police were in possession of all of the information that Mrs. Staples had.)
Following his successful appeal, Gary Staples was transferred back from the Kingston Penitentiary to the Barton Street Jail in Hamilton, and held until January 1972, when he was tried for a second time for the murder of Gerald Burke, before a court composed of a judge and a jury.
Represented by defence lawyers Arthur Maloney and Walter Stayshyn, Gary Staples was acquitted at the conclusion of his second trial on February 3, 1972, and finally freed. He had been incarcerated for 649 days and 650 nights, that is, for approximately 22 months, for a crime he did not commit.
However, it was STILL not over.
The Crown Attorney appealed the acquittal, and it appeared that Gary would have to endure a third trial for a crime he had nothing to do with.
Then, without any explanation and for no apparent reason, the Crown abandoned its appeal in November, 1972, before it had been heard.
The reasons for the Crown's abandonment of its appeal only became known following the events which occurred on October 30, 2000, nearly 30 years later.
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