Man who served 10 years before murder acquittal can't sue Manitoba government: court

The Manitoba Law Courts building is pictured in Winnipeg, Man., in this undated image. (CTV News Winnipeg)

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s highest court has ruled a man who served a decade in prison before he was acquitted of the 1984 killing of a Winnipeg girl can’t continue with his lawsuit against the province.

Mark Grant filed the suit in 2019 seeking $8.5 million against Winnipeg police and the provincial government, alleging they engaged in a negligent investigation and malicious prosecution that left him wrongfully convicted of murdering 13-year-old Candace Derksen.

The province twice tried to have the suit struck in Court of King’s Bench. The Court of Appeal granted the government’s motion last year to hear its appeal.

In its decision Friday, the Appeal Court found that a Court of King’s Bench justice had erred in law by dismissing the province’s motion.

“There is nothing in the claim that could give rise to the type of ‘tainted tunnel vision’ that amounts to malice,” says the decision.

“No tangible misconduct is alleged against any of the five prosecutors. The worst that can be said is that one or more of them may have misread the sufficiency of the evidence at some point after the plaintiff was committed to stand trial.”

Lawrence Greenspon, one of Grant’s lawyers, said Monday that they’re considering whether to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case.

In the meantime, he said, the lawsuit will continue against police.

Court has heard Candace was last seen walking home from school in November 1984.

Her frozen body was found six weeks later, with her hands and feet bound, in an industrial shed. The cause of her death was determined to be hypothermia.

Grant wasn’t arrested until 2007, and he was charged with first-degree murder. In 2011, he was found guilty of second-degree murder based on DNA evidence from twine used to bind the girl.

The Supreme Court overturned the conviction two years later, leading to a new trial in 2017. The DNA evidence was ruled to be flawed, and Grant was acquitted of second-degree murder.

Grant was unknown to the Derksen family at the time of the teen’s death, but he had a long criminal record including sexual assaults and other crimes.

The lawsuit argues that five prosecutors tried Grant despite an absence of reasonable grounds and that they failed to reassess the case as needed.

“Prosecutors cannot be faulted for not having a crystal ball as to how the law may change; they must exercise their professional judgment based on the law as generally understood at the time,” says the Appeal Court decision.

“The claim alleges the provincial defendants were actuated by malice but provides no material facts that could support that conclusion.”

Greenspon said it’s disappointing.

“This is a case of a wrongful conviction based on junk science. And the unfortunate result is that Mark, who is a vulnerable person to begin with, spent 10 years in jail for a murder that he did not commit,” he said.

Grant was arrested in January in Vancouver, where he faces charges of sexual assault, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon and uttering threats.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2026.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press