Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, (Media@pmo-cpm.gc.ca),

Caleb Lawrence McGillvary is a Canadian citizen currently incarcerated at the New Jersey State Prison in the United States. He was born on treaty six land in Edmonton, Alberta. Having experienced abuse and confinement throughout his childhood and spending his teen years in foster care, Caleb left Alberta at the age of 17 and made a life for himself on the road. His travels brought him into the United States at the age of 24.

Having met literally thousands of people over the years with whom he spent the night for shelter without any incident of violence, particularly when he became famous for saving the lives of two women, Caleb was charged with the first degree murder of Joseph Galfy in 2013. Mr Galfy died from injuries he sustained after meeting Caleb in Times Square in New York City and inviting him back to his home to sleep. 

Caleb has always maintained that he was drugged and raped by Joseph Galfy, and that he woke up from a GHB black out with Mr Galfy on top of him taking his pants off and fought his way out from under him. Caleb recounts the intense terror and confusion he felt, and how he urinated on the carpet from fear. When police investigated the crime scene in Mr Galfy’s home in the small community of Clark, New Jersey the carpet was never analyzed to test Caleb’s urine for GHB. Neither were the drinking glasses tested for drug residue, nor was a pill bottle of what is alleged to have been GHB that was found in Mr Galfy’s fridge ever taken in as evidence. Mr Galfy was found with semen and unidentified blood on his penis, neither of which were analyzed or entered as evidence. All of this evidence was hidden, cleaned, or destroyed by a investigation team lead by chief of police James Galfy, Joseph Galfy’s brother.

The expert doctor assigned to the investigation, Robert Padina, refused Caleb a rape kit. He claimed to have not known Mr Galfy personally, however he was later found to be listed as a beneficiary of Mr Galfy’s estate. To refuse proper services and processing of a rape victim in New Jersey is a criminal offence.

The relationships between those who ran Caleb’s trial and Joseph Galfy were myriad, creating endless conflict of interest. One judge stepped down after it was discovered that he was close to Joseph Galfy. The next judge, Robert Mega, had not only Joseph Galfy in his phone contacts but also Joseph Galfy’s son. He recused himself. The prosecuting attorney  Theodore Romankow resigned when his relationship with Galfy was exposed. The chance of there having been a judge, a prosecutor, or even a defence attorney in Mr Galfy’s community who did not share a relationship with him seems neither plausible nor possible. Caleb’s own defence attorney seemed to be working against him, and at one point told the jury that his client was guilty.

Caleb actually had no faith in the competency of his defence going into trial with this attorney, and requested that he be granted the right to represent himself. He was denied this right and forced to trial with representation in which he had no faith. Throughout Caleb’s arrest and his entire trial he was subjected to brutality, dishonesty, and misconduct at every level. 

Caleb was detained before trial for six years, and most of them were served in solitary confinement; an egregious act of torture. His human rights were violated throughout his detainment, and his legal rights were violated throughout his trial. He is now sentenced to 57 years in the New Jersey State Prison, with no chance for parole before he has served 85% of his sentence. 

This is far too high a sentencing for a man who killed his rapist in a fight to get him off of him while waking up from being drugged. The fear and adrenaline of such a situation can not be ignored. Caleb has a history of being sexually assaulted twice as a young man, he suffers from PTSD from these memories which would make the experience of waking up with Mr Galfy on top of him an extremely traumatic one. Caleb felt that he was fighting for his life, and did not know until he was arrested that Mr Galfy had died. 

Mr Prime Minister, Canada has intervened on behalf of Canadian citizens arrested abroad who have been denied their legal and human rights many times. I implore you to look at the case of Caleb Lawrence McGillvary and to take it seriously. It does not matter in which country a violation of rights occurs, Canada has an obligation to intervene and represent a Canadian citizen who is imprisoned abroad without a fair trial. Mr McGillvary certainly did not receive a fair trial, and his country should now support him in his fight for Justice.