Crown offered Toronto man one day in jail in exchange for revealing location of body

Robert Baltovich - a Toronto librarian whose trial for the murder of Elizabeth Bain collapsed yesterday when the Crown conceded its case - was secretly offered a deal last fall to serve a single day in jail in return for revealing the whereabouts of Ms. Bain's body.

Had it been accepted, the offer would have short-circuited the 42-year-old's trial and turned a potential life sentence into a single day behind bars.

Instead, defence counsel James Lockyer rejected the idea. In a response to the Crown, he wrote: "Robert Baltovich did not murder Elizabeth, had nothing to do with her murder, and has not the remotest idea where her killer might have buried her body.

"Even if you had offered to withdraw the charge of murder ... in exchange for information as to the location of Elizabeth's body, he simply cannot tell you something that he does not know."

Robert Baltovich's retrial on second-degree murder charge lasted only minutes after prosecutors effectively said they didn't have a case

Mr. Lockyer's letter, dated on Oct. 5, 2007, and addressed to prosecutor Philip Kotanen, was obtained by The Globe and Mail.

Yesterday, instead of giving his scheduled opening address to the jury at Mr. Baltovich's murder retrial, Mr. Kotanen stunned the courtroom by announcing that the Crown would not be offering any evidence.

"It has become apparent that there is no longer any reasonable prospect of conviction," he told the court. "I can assure the family [of Ms. Bain] and the public that this decision has only been taken following a careful and exhaustive review."

In an interview shortly after the Crown's concession, Mr. Lockyer issued a demand for a public inquiry - in part so that serial killer Paul Bernardo could be compelled to testify about his possible involvement in the Bain murder.

"There's some pretty good evidence against him," Mr. Lockyer said. "I'm not saying he did it, but if there were a really determined attempt, maybe an inquiry could help solve the crime."

Mr. Lockyer's call for an inquiry was echoed in the Ontario Legislature by New Democratic Leader Howard Hampton and Progressive Conservative MPP Bob Runciman.

"Mr. Baltovich has had his life turned upside down," Mr. Runciman told reporters. "The Bain family, the parents of Elizabeth Bain, have been twisting in the wind essentially for the last number of years."

Attorney-General Chris Bentley declined to comment on whether an inquiry should be held or whether Mr. Baltovich is entitled to compensation.

"There are many tragedies in this case," he told reporters. "The biggest tragedy is the Bain family. They've lost a daughter. For Mr. Baltovich, he has been found not guilty. I am hoping this finding will help him to get on with the rest of his life."

Mr. Lockyer said the police fixed on Mr. Baltovich as the likely killer within hours of Ms. Bain's disappearance. He said that the prosecution lurched forward for nearly two decades based on skimpy evidence.

"We need to get at the root of how it is that the Attorney-General's office continues to prosecute these cases remorselessly, year after year after year," Mr. Lockyer said in the interview.

"This is a case you didn't need to be clever to see through. This case died of a thousand cuts. Their theory, the whole premise of their case, just fell apart."

While the Crown has a year in which to revive the prosecution, Mr. Lockyer scoffed at the idea: "They would look utterly ridiculous if they did - and they know it," he said.

Mr. Lockyer also flatly ruled out any prospect of his client seeking compensation from the province. "I'll cut that off at the knees," he said. "Rob has no interest. He is sick and tired of lawyers, courts and judges."

Before rendering its swift verdict yesterday, the jury heard a heartfelt plea from Mr. Lockyer to find his client not guilty both for his sake and that of Ms. Bain - a 22-year-old University of Toronto student who disappeared on June 19, 1990.

"Today," Mr. Lockyer told them, "you can provide some justice to her - but only some. However, her memory cannot be fully served until the real murderer is found. You have the power - and only you have the power - to acquit the man who loved her of her murder."

Mr. Baltovich told reporters that while his 18-year nightmare has ended, "it's a never-ending nightmare for the Bains. I just hope that one day they can come to accept the fact that I didn't kill their daughter. I loved her. I miss her. Maybe one of these days we can get together and grieve together."

Mr. Baltovich - whose father is seriously ill and whose mother died while he was in prison - said in an interview that he feared for his life behind bars after his 1992 conviction.

"It was a complete unknown. You're thinking: What in the world is waiting for me?" he said.

Notwithstanding one incident in which he was warned that a fellow inmate intended to poison him, however, Mr. Baltovich said that he was left alone.

In 1999, he approached Mr. Lockyer to take on his appeal. Overworked at the time, Mr. Lockyer said that his involvement was contingent on Mr. Baltovich striking him as truly innocent.

"This was the easiest case of the number of cases that I've looked at for me to conclude that the person was innocent," Mr. Lockyer said in the interview.

"It just leapt off the pages of the trial transcript. I didn't need DNA to tell me that Rob didn't do it."

The Baltovich case was troubled from the start. Ms. Bain's abandoned car was found three days after her disappearance with blood stains in the back. However, her body was never found. The Crown's case against Mr. Baltovich was entirely circumstantial, consisting primarily of assertions of motive, opportunity and behaviour that betrayed a consciousness of guilt.

However, in ordering a new trial in 2004, the Ontario Court of Appeal pointed primarily toward an inflammatory charge to the jury by Mr. Baltovich's original trial judge.