Ronald Dalton

Case Summary

On the night of Aug. 15, 1988, Brenda Dalton started to cough uncontrollably when she choked on a piece of cereal that she had been snacking on earlier.1 Her husband, Ronald Dalton, tried his best to help Brenda clear her throat while she was on her knees, “swinging her arms” and “clawing at her throat” in a panic.2 Brenda soon lost consciousness and Dalton called an ambulance at around 11:50 p.m., shortly after his attempts to revive Brenda through CPR proved to be unsuccessful.3

When the ambulance arrived at the James Paton Memorial Hospital in Gander, Newfoundland, the medical staff continued the efforts to resuscitate Brenda.4 By this time, Brenda’s face was blue, showing no signs of life.5 To open her airway, the emergency doctor tried to perform endotracheal intubation, but due to inexperience, misplaced the tube in Brenda’s esophagus rather than her trachea.6 Although Brenda briefly regained her heartbeat following the medical staff’s resuscitative efforts, she could not be revived.7 After more than an hour of continued resuscitation, Brenda, at the age of 31, was pronounced dead at 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 16, 1988.8

Dr. Charles Hutton, the province’s chief of forensic pathology, flew in from St. John’s to perform Brenda’s autopsy. He concluded that the injuries found in her bruised larynx resulted from strangulation by a right hand.9 It would be revealed later that Dr. Hutton suspected foul play even before conducting the autopsy, and that his autopsy findings reinforced his preconceived suspicion.10

The RCMP’s interview with Dalton began on the evening of Aug. 16 and continued through the early morning hours of Aug. 17. Dalton gave his first statement explaining his whereabouts on the evening of Aug. 15 when Brenda first started choking.11 He explained to the RCMP officers that he had returned to work after 8 p.m. and came back home at 11:30 p.m. to find Brenda lying on the floor unconscious.12 Dalton later admitted to RCMP that this statement was a dishonest account of what actually happened; Dalton was trying to hide from the police and everyone else his affair with a former employee at the bank he managed.13 He added that he was “distraught and panicked” because of Brenda’s unexpected death, implying that he was not in the best position to exercise good judgment.14 The interview became confrontational when Dalton refused to show the officers the scratches on his right hand, which the officers suspected could be defensive wounds inflicted by Brenda to free herself from strangulation.15 At 5:05 a.m. on Aug. 17, 1988, Dalton was arrested and charged with first degree murder.16

At trial, the Crown’s case against Dalton rested on the expert testimony by Dr. Hutton, who unequivocally expressed his opinion that Brenda’s death was a result of a “homicidal manual strangulation.”17 The defence relied on the expert opinion of Dr. Walter Hofman, who disputed Dr. Hutton’s conclusions by explaining that the external bruises found right underneath Brenda’s chin, rather than on the lower part of her neck, could not be indicative of strangulation.18 Dr. Hofman further reasoned that the other bruises and injuries found on Brenda’s body were consistent with a fall rather than a blow, and that it was entirely possible for the internal injuries found on Brenda’s esophagus to have resulted from the misplacing of the tube when the emergency doctor tried to perform endotracheal intubation.19

Dalton was never given an opportunity to explain his inconsistent statements about his whereabouts on the evening Brenda’s tragedy started to unfold. The Crown never delved into Dalton’s inconsistent statements in its cross-examination against him, yet insinuated to the jury in the closing argument that this inconsistency seriously questioned Dalton’s credibility and was indicative of fabrication.20 On Dec. 15, 1989, the jury convicted Dalton of second degree murder.21 He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 10 years.22

Although Dalton’s notice of appeal was filed just 14 days after his conviction, it took more than 8 years for Dalton’s appeal to be heard at the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal. The delay was largely attributed to the lack of due diligence and commitment on the part of Dalton’s two previous lawyers. Their work hardly produced any material results during the appellate process and hindered Dalton’s case from moving forward for years.23 In 1997, Dalton finally retained the lawyer who went on to represent him at the Court of Appeal.

On May 29, 1998, the Court of Appeal overturned Dalton’s conviction and ordered a new trial based on fresh forensic evidence offered by two pathologists who disputed Dr. Hutton’s autopsy findings in unequivocal terms.24 Not only did they support Dr. Hofman’s disagreement at trial with Dr. Hutton’s theory of manual strangulation, but their expert opinions went further to establish in “unmistakably positive terms” that Brenda’s death was an accident caused by aspiration of food.25 The court also found problematic the Crown’s failure at trial to cross-examine Dalton on his inconsistent statements pertaining to his whereabouts on the evening Brenda first started choking, and the decision to then suggest to the jury in its closing argument that the inconsistency was indicative of fabrication.26 The Court of Appeal explained that this move by the Crown, whether deliberate or not, robbed Dalton of the opportunity to submit into evidence a different statement he made which would have corroborated his testimony at trial.27 Following the court’s decision to overturn the conviction, Dalton was released from custody on bail in June 1998.28

Dalton’s new trial began on Mar. 1, 1999, but it was soon declared a mistrial because Justice Gordon Eaton, who was presiding over the trial, had to withdraw for medical reasons.29 Prior to the trial, Dalton requested a judge-alone trial but the prosecutor refused and this was upheld on the basis that Dalton could not demonstrate flagrant impropriety in the prosecutorial decision.30 Dalton also applied to exclude evidence of an extra-marital affair as having too much of a prejudicial effect but that application was also denied.31

Dalton’s third trial was finally on its way in December 1999 and was moved from Gander to St. John’s to ensure a fair trial by an impartial jury.32 On Jun. 24, 2000, nearly 12 years after he had been charged with second degree murder of his wife, Dalton was exonerated when the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court jury found him not guilty.33 Following a brief celebration of the verdict, Dalton headed home with his family to attend the high school graduation of his daughter who was only 6 years of age when her mother tragically and accidentally died.

Dalton received $750,000 in compensation and a public apology from the government.34 After his acquittal, Dalton started volunteering with Innocence Canada and later became the co-president of the organization.35


[1] Helena Katz, Justice Miscarried: Inside Wrongful Convictions in Canada (Canada: Dundurn Press, 2011) at 124 [Justice Miscarried].
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid; R v Dalton, [1999] NJ No 387, 77 CRR (2d) 362 at para 1 (SCTD) [1999 R v Dalton].
[4] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 125.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 126 – 27; R v Dalton, [1998] NJ No 131, 39 WCB (2d) 1 at para 38 (CA) [1998 R v Dalton].
[7] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 126 – 27.
[8] Ibid; 1999 R v Dalton, supra note 3 at para 2.
[9] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 126 – 28; 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 30 – 32.
[10] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 31 – 33; Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 126 – 28.
[11] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 126 – 28.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 129.
[15] 1999 R v Dalton, supra note 3 at para 23.
[16] 1999 R v Dalton, supra note 3 at para 34; Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 127 – 28.
[17] 1999 R v Dalton, supra note 3 at paras 30 – 33.
[18] 1999 R v Dalton, supra note 3 at para 48.
[19] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 51 – 59.
[20] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 191 – 202.
[21] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 130.
[22] Ibid.
[23] The Lamer Commission of Inquiry Pertaining to the Cases of: Ronald Dalton Gregory Parsons Randy Druken, by Antonio Lamer (Newfoundland and Labrador: Department of Justice and Public Safety) at 17 - 39.
[24] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 61 – 74.
[25] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 123 – 126.
[26] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 191 – 202.
[27] 1998 R v Dalton, supra note 6 at paras 191 – 202.
[28] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 131.
[29] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 132.
[30] R. v. Dalton (R.C.), 1999 CanLII 19816 (NL SC).
[31] Ibid.
[32] Justice Miscarried, supra note 1 at 132 – 33.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Cassie Aylward, “What It Is Like to Be Wrongfully Convicted of Murder”, Vice (21 October 2016), online: <vice.com/en_ca/article> [perma.cc/gqk5dq/what-it-is-like-to-be-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder] [What it is Like to be Wrongfully Convicted of Murder]; Real Stories, “Falsely Accused: Ronald Dalton’s Struggle (Crime Documentary)” (14 September 2019) at 00h:42m:25s, online(video): YouTube <youtube.com> [perma.cc/watch?v=TsNccLaVgFw].
[35] What it is Like to be Wrongfully Convicted of Murder, supra note 34.

Case Details

  • Full name:

    Ronald Dalton

  • Gender identity:

    Male

  • Race/ethnicity:

    White (caucasian)

  • Age - at the time of conviction:

    34

  • Charges - specific offences:

    First degree murder

  • Date of conviction:

    1989-12-15

  • Date wrongful conviction was overturned:

    2000-06-24

  • Sentence - total time served:

    08 years, 06 months, 07 days

  • Legal mechanism by which wrongful conviction was overturned:

    New evidence on first appeal

  • Status of alleged crime:

    No Crime Occurred

  • Compensation Received?

    Yes

  • Guilty plea?

    No

  • Cause(s) of wrongful conviction:

    Dalton was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife based on faulty forensic pathology evidence suggesting that he had strangled her. Fresh evidence established that she died accidentally due to choking on food.