Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 29/02) - A small group of city residents launched a fundraising drive last weekend to give the Yellowknife man convicted of killing nine miners with a bomb one last chance to prove his innocence.

Steve Peterson: "Trial was a sham."

"We believe the trial (of Roger Warren) was a sham," said Steve Petersen, committee spokesperson for the Roger Warren Appeal Fund Committee.

The group raised $2,000 during a fundraiser at the 40 Below Golf Club on Saturday, said Petersen.

Warren was convicted of second-degree murder on Jan. 20, 1995 after confessing to the Sept 18, 1992 blast that killed nine replacement workers underground during a bitter strike at Giant Mine.

The group hopes to raise $3,000 to pay the Yellowknife airfare for three lawyers from the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted.

The president of the Toronto- and Winnipeg-based association believes the case "has many of the hallmarks of a false confession."

James Lockyer, president of the non-profit association, told Yellowknifer previously "we don't embark on all that work unless we think there's something there."

The association was involved in the successful reversals of the high profile murder convictions of Guy Paul Morin and David Milgaard.

Lee Selleck, Yellowknife-based author of the book Dying for Gold, which reexamined the evidence that convicted Warren, said there are many questions in the case that can lead to doubting Warren's guilt.

"I think they are likely to believe he didn't do it and it was a false confession," said Selleck.

"Whether they can open a door the Supreme Court closed will be a tough job."

Warren confessed to the bombing after 16 police interviews and two lie detector tests.

In a 1997 appeal, Warren's lawyers argued the confession was the result of coercion -- an argument rejected by the three judges of the Northwest Territories Court of Appeal.

RCMP Sgt. Dave Grundy, police spokesperson during the Giant Mine blast investigation, said police at the time followed all rules in extracting Warren's confession.

"We have done our job," said Grundy. "Whatever they decide, they decide."

For some of Warren's family and close friends, the new interest in the case was a long time coming.

"I think it's about time. I wish this could have come sooner," said Vic Johnson, Warren's son-in-law, currently living in Peace River, Alta.

" We talk quite a bit. I believe he is innocent."

Warren is serving 20 years without parole at the Stony Mountain medium- security penitentiary in Manitoba.

He exhausted all appeal routes.