Episode 5: The Death Penalty

This episode covers Coffin’s many appeals and attempts to overturn his conviction and sentence.  Likely feeling quite desperate at these failed attempts, following the rejection of his appeal to the Supreme Court, Coffin managed to fashion a gun out of wax and used it to escape the Quebec jail.  Coffin fled to his lawyer’s (Mahr) residence who convinced him to return to jail and to have faith in the judicial system.  A great deal of evidence emerged, following Coffin’s conviction, that supported his claims of innocence, including a number of people who came forward having seen the yellow jeep with the two Americans in the Gaspé region during the time of the murder.  Despite a reference heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, Coffin was hanged on February 10th, 1956, at Bordeaux Jail in Montreal, Quebec.