Nova ScotiaGlen Assoun spent nearly 17 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, but was later exonerated.Assoun spent 16 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commitBlair Rhodes · CBC News · Posted: Oct 16, 2025 1:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoGlen Assoun stands outside Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Friday, July 12, 2019. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team has agreed to undertake an investigation into how Nova Scotia police handled the case of Glen Assoun.Assoun was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend Brenda Way and spent nearly 17 years in prison before being exonerated in 2019.In 2020, Nova Scotia’s justice minister asked the province’s police watchdog to investigate whether there had been a miscarriage of justice in Assoun’s case. It was later determined an outside agency — and not Nova Scotia’s SIRT — should conduct the investigation to avoid any appearance of conflict.British Columbia’s police watchdog initially took on the assignment. But in 2023, the B.C. agency handed the file back to Nova Scotia’s SIRT, saying it had too many cases of its own. SIRT’s director, Erin Nauss, has been looking for a replacement agency ever since.On Thursday, Nauss announced the agreement with the Alberta team. She said in a news release that she has “complete faith in their ability to conduct a professional, thorough and independent investigation.”Assoun died in June 2023 at the age of 67. He had agreed to an undisclosed financial settlement with the Nova Scotia and federal governments following his exoneration.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORBlair Rhodes has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 31 with CBC. His primary focus is on stories of crime and public safety. He can be reached at blair.rhodes@cbc.ca
Alberta police watchdog to investigate N.S. police handling of Glen Assoun case
