The bare minimum

It's been fairly well-reported today that the judge in charge of the Milgaard inquiry has ruled that Milgaard will have to testify by videotape. But more interesting than content of the decision is the reasoning behind Justice MacCallum's ruling:

Justice Edward MacCallum said Wednesday that Milgaard must testify, but added that he could do so on videotape and be questioned solely by the inquiry's lawyer in order to reduce the stress of the event...

On Wednesday, the judge said in a 10-page written decision he hadn't been convinced there are medical reasons Milgaard can't testify. It didn't help that Milgaard wouldn't turn over his medical records, he said.

He said he could allow the videotaping option because all the lawyers said they could agree to it.

Now, it's to the credit of the other parties to the inquiry that they were willing to allow for some concessions based on Milgaard's health. And the compromise is a reasonable one supported by expert evidence.

But the end result is that Milgaard receives only the concession that counsel for the other parties would allow him, and not an inch more (aside from refusing one lawyer's request to have a right to cross-examine which would have completely undone the good of any accommodation). And indeed, Justice MacCallum indicated that it was only the agreement of the lawyers that led him to grant any accommodation at all. While it's fair enough that the evidence in support of Milgaard's application could have been a lot stronger, the ruling doesn't bode well for any attempt to repair the rift that's already apparent between Milgaard and the man responsible for figuring out why Milgaard was jailed.