HALIFAX -- A Nova Scotia judge has ruled that a man wrongfully convicted of statutory rape in 1970 has failed to prove that the miscarriage of justice was the result of negligence.
Gerald Barton launched a lawsuit against the RCMP in Digby, N.S., for negligent investigation.
He testified that at the time he was charged he never gave a statement to the Mounties and did not plead guilty at a trial, even though that's what the record shows.
Barton, who now lives in Edmonton, was wrongfully convicted of raping a 14-year-old Nova Scotia girl in 1969.
In January 2011, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal admitted fresh DNA evidence that proved Barton was not the father of the child born to the girl, who has since died.
In his ruling today, Judge James Chipman of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court said he would have awarded Barton $75,000 in general damages had he concluded that the wrongful conviction was the result of a negligent investigation.
