UNLUCKY TO THE END. The Story of Janise Marie Gamble.

Hardback, 1st Canadian edn. On March 12, 1976 Calgary police officer Allan Keith Harrison was shot and killed following a robbery at the Ingleside Credit Union. By the end of that year, Janise Marie Gamble, a 21yr. old girl from small-town Ontario, had been convicted of murder and given a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 25yrs. It was clear that Gamble had not fired the shot that killed Harrison, but it was less clear whether she had participated in the robbery that had led to his murder. The author provides a thought-provoking examination of the circumstances of the robbery, the subsequent flight of the suspects and murder of the police officer, and the hostage scene that led to the death of one of the robbers. Using transcripts from the Calgary trial he explores Gamble's conviction and details the efforts that, after 14yrs. in the desolate Kingston Prison for Women, finally led to her parole. Pound argues that Gamble's first degree murder sentence was based on legislation not in force at the time the crime was committed, resulting in a much harsher sentence than would have applied under the existing law. The ongoing enforcement of that sentence violated the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment contained in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Illus. + Index. F. in nr. f. dw.