Steven Truscott | |
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Born | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | January 18, 1945
Criminal status | Paroled (1969)
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Conviction(s) | Murder (overturned) |
Criminal penalty | Death by hanging (September 30, 1959), commuted to life imprisonment (January 22, 1960) |
Steven Murray Truscott (born January 18, 1945) is a Canadian man who, at age fourteen, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1959 for the rape and murder of classmate Lynne Harper. Truscott had been the last known person to see her alive.[1] He was scheduled to be hanged; however, the federal cabinet reprieved him and he was sentenced to life in prison and released on parole in 1969. Five decades later, in 2007, his conviction was overturned on the basis that key forensic evidence was weaker than had been portrayed at trial, and key evidence in favor of Truscott was concealed from his defense team.[2] He was the youngest person in Canada to face execution.[3]