Baltovich not guilty

Robert Baltovich and his lawyers say they want an inquiry to examine why he was arrested and then prosecuted for 18 years before being cleared.
“I don’t think it’s good enough for us all to go home and say, ‘Well, that’s the end of that,’” Baltovich’s lead lawyer James Lockyer said yesterday after the Crown announced it was abandoning the prosecution in the 42-year-old librarian’s second trial for second-degree murder in the death of University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain in 1990.
Lockyer said that police conduct and the Crown’s relentless prosecution, despite growing evidence to the contrary, should be scrutinized.
In court, prosecutor Philip Kotanen confirmed yesterday what had been rumoured for days: The Crown believes there is “no longer any reasonable prospect” of convicting Baltovich and feels “duty bound” to end the prosecution.