Product Description

How can Canada put so many innocent men behind bars - and is Robert Baltovich one of them?

Many people recall Elizabeth Bain. Photos of her striking face plastered newspapers coast to coast; her tragic disappearance made headlines nationwide. It all began on Tuesday, June 19, 1990, when the twenty-two year old vanished from the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus. When Liz's empty car was found three days later, police zeroed in on 25-year-old Rob Baltovich, Liz's boyfriend of a year. Despite many loose ends, Robert Baltovich was tried and convicted. His crime? Second degree murder. His sentence? Life.

Did police apprehend the right man? Could Elizabeth's killer still be at large? A private investigator, hired by Baltovich, has devoted the last eight years to unearthing the truth. His relentless work has led to an upcoming appeal hearing which may set Baltovich free. One of his findings suggests a possible connection between Elizabeth and the then unidentified Paul Bernardo: the unnamed "Scarborough rapist" whose last known rape in the area took place in May 1990, three weeks before Bain disappeared.

Why does Canada put so many innocent men behind bars? Is Robert Baltovich one of them - another Donald Marshall, David Milgard, another Guy Paul Morin? Could Bernardo turn out to be the killer yet again? This in-depth look at a fascinating case which is once again making headlines is a harrowing journey through Canada's complex legal system and the haunting story of a man who just may be innocent - locked behind bars for killing the woman he loved.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2075330 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 819 pages

Review
"Finkle has done such a magnificent job of research, of tying all the pieces together, of explaining them in brilliantly clear prose, that, reading the book, one finds it impossible not to conclude, uh oh, another massive screwup in the courts." -- The Globe and Mail

"Finkle reconstructs in painstaking detail the two-year process that led to Baltovich's conviction.... In the end, Baltovich's guilt or innocence is not resolved, but there is a reasonable doubt. More importantly, perhaps, is that we can no longer ask ourselves how innocent people end up in jail for crimes they didn't commit. We know how." -- Quill & Quire

Customer Reviews

THANKS TO THIS BOOK
Robert Baltovich is now out of jail and working at a somewhat prestigious job in downtown Toronto. I know this from a mutual childhood friend that Rob and I know. Robert is out of jail, long in advance of his seventeen year sentence, in large part, due to the uncovering of Metro Toronto police malfeasance and their outright obstruction of justice. Repentance must be forthcoming from the police, the judiciary. These tax-paid liars that are responsible for such skulduggery should be put away for more than the seventeen years they wished upon poor Robert. (The real murderer has yet to be charged with Bain's murder.) As well, restitution to Robert and his family must be made and that publicly. Read this book to know just what goes on in the name of 'justice'. It is certainly not pretty.

An amazing recap of a tragic experience
As a family member of Robert Baltovich, I will say that No Claim to Mercy does an excellent job of recapping the devastating experience during the last almost ten years. It describes in amazingly accurate detail the occurences before the trial, during and after. What has gone on since is also in detail and is assurance for me just reading it that we, very soon, will come to the bottom of this, and an innocent man will have his freedom once again.

Detective Sgt's Steve Reesor and Brian Raybould should be charged with obstruction of justice

A harrowing book to read, my blood pressure went so high I had to stop reading for awhile . The narrow, almost obessive focus that Reesor and Raybould exhibited in this investigation on the death of Elizabeth Bain is frightening!! That they are still in law enforcement is scarier still.