Murrin/ Sophonow Case Comparison 
                                 
The RCMP were claiming many of the same reasons for the downfall of the case against Shannon Murrin as was found in the Thomas Sophonow case. This led to a comparison of what at first appeared to be two similar cases with similar results. The public was being led to believe that two innocent men were being falsely prosecuted and in Sophonow's case, had been wrongfully convicted. The actual result of both cases was that two suspected serial killers, both police informants, were both set free!

There was an official inquiry into Sophonow’s case. The inquiry report identified outdated investigation techniques as well as tunnel vision as being part of the problem. As a result of that inquiry, a great deal of information became available, and Terry Arnold a much more viable suspect emerged.
Province of Manitoba website
 http://www.aidwyc.org/pdfs/SophonowMay25.pdf 

In Kelowna, the RCMP claim that the Alberta RCMP investigation into the handling of Shannon Murrin’s case had come to many of the same conclusions as the Sophonow inquiry. The Victoria Police investigation, "apparently" exonerated the Kelowna RCMP of any wrong doing, however, no-one has actually seen the concluding report as the RCMP are with holding it from the public. There were many calls for an inquiry into this case, all ignored or denied.
see- RCMP blacks out report
The media have continually been denied access to the report.
see- media requests

Murrin and his attorneys are claiming that another suspect could have been found in his case as well if leads had been followed up on instead of covered up at the time.
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/99/20/s99-2095.txt
There is some truth to this claim as evidenced by a freedom of information request confirming that there are undisclosed reports of another suspect and vehicle, reports that have been concealed by the RCMP. Murrin is using this to allege that there is another viable suspect still out there. That "other suspect"  has since come forward identifying himself as a witness who had followed the prime suspect back to an uninvestigated location. This witness believes that the suspect he followed was Murrin.
see- new witness  

The difference between the Sophonow case and Murrin’s is that there actually was another viable suspect instead of Sophonow. The evidence and information that was known to have been with held in Sophonow's case points to and identifies another suspect. The information and witnesses known to have been with held in Murrin's case, further implicates Murrin as the killer. There are no other known suspects in Murrin's case. 
 Original Vancouver Sun Article: 

Doug Martin, an RCMP informant who's testimony helped to convict Sophonow also testified against Murrin. The B.C. Crown knew that Sophonow had been falsely convicted in part by Martin’s testimony. Despite the obvious implications, the B.C. Crown still used this same informant in their case against Murrin. This armed the defense with irrefutable proof that the RCMP had constructed a case against Murrin containing testimony from a person who was known to have committed perjury in a similar case. The jury and the public were led into believing that another wrongful conviction was in the making. Martin's  testimony thus aided both of his two fellow informants to avoid justice, Terry Arnold for the murder of Barbara Stoppel, and Shannon Murrin for the murder of Mindy Tran. Martin later admitted that he was being fed information and paid to testify in this manner by the RCMP. 
see- informant/ Martin 

According to Murrin's story on the injustice busters website-
 Quote: "Shannon's trial had already been delayed several times as the Crown continued to look for evidence. They must have realized that the changed witness statements and Douglas Martin's unrecorded alleged confessions didn't make a strong case. Josiah Wood had used the Sophonow case as a basis for using Douglas Martin. He may have been aware that Sophonow's case had come under scrutiny."

Murrin is attempting to portray himself as one of the wrongly prosecuted like Sophonow. In actuality Murrin has much more in common with Terry Arnold, the new prime suspect in the murder of Barbara Stoppel, for which Sophonow had been wrongfully convicted. Terry Arnold, a dangerous sex offender and convicted killer of a young B.C. girl, Christine Brown, demonstrated the known existence of another viable suspect instead of Sophonow. The Police investigations of both Murrin and Arnold employed similar means of obstruction, including the destruction of DNA evidence. The Police officers responsible for destroying evidence were never charged in either case. Both Arnold and Murrin are suspected serial killers who were freed by the B.C. justice system under very suspicious circumstances. The Kelowna police investigators in both  of these cases each won the investigator of the year award and both had worked together during the Tran investigation. It was the subsequent handling of a murder case against Terry Arnold by the B.C. justice system, that exposed a pattern and another motive for why the Police had focused on Sophonow to Arnold's exclusion originally, like Murrin, Arnold was an informant. 
view- Terry Arnold is listed as an informant by the American Bar Association. 

Both Murrin and Arnold have been implicated in many sexual crimes and murders. The following are some of the crimes that each of them has been implicated in. The police have been able to provide explanations for botching each individual case against both of these informants, but cumulatively these cases tell a far different story.
Shannon Murrin see- Murrin's crimes 
Terry Arnold see- Arnold's crimes  

Arnold was once convicted of murder in British Columbia, but suspiciously, the charge was later stayed and the conviction overturned with no retrial. The court ruling allowing for Arnold's retrial disclosed the involvement of "The Honourable Chief Justice McEachern".
see- court document
Justice McEachern later stepped down from this prestigious position to work as a personal attorney for Shannon Murrin.  
see- news story

Quote from Vancouver Sun - Lawyer Rick Peck, who acted for the Crown in the appeal that overturned Arnold's conviction and has defended some of B.C.'s most notorious criminals, says if one allegedly guilty person goes free, it's the price we all pay for our liberties. "If you have to give the benefit of the law to the devil, so be it."
see- news story
The Crown attorney responsible for Arnold's successful appeal and release, co-wrote a book with Josiah Wood, the crown prosecutor responsible for Murrin's acquittal.
see- Richard Peck bio

Richard Peck and Josiah Woods, both worked together on Shannon Murrin's case.
quote: The internal investigation into Tidsbury's conduct was still going on during Shannon's trial. In a letter from Josiah Woods to Crown attorney Richard Peck dated August 2, 1999 Josiah informed Peck that he would give Tidsbury all the evidence against him, even though Peck had strongly opposed this move. Josiah Wood explained this unprecedented move by saying that Tidsbury needed to review the evidence so that he could properly testify at Shannon's trial. The results of the investigation into the January 5, 1995 incident were announced January 26, 2000. The RCMP chose the day of Shannon's acquittal to announce that there would be no charges against Tidsbury. There was "insufficient evidence to charge Tidsbury" and "no likelihood of a conviction if a charge was laid". Tidsbury had been exonerated

Richard Peck was hired by the Crown to determine  whether RCMP Sgt. Gary Tidsbury should be charged for his activities over the course of the Mindy Tran investigation. Peck apparently found nothing wrong. Informant acquitted, informant handler, no charges.
see- story

Josiah Woods a former judge, was hand picked by then A.G Ujjal Dosanjh to be the "special" prosecutor in the Crown's case. This A.G. has used this former judge in other controversial cases involving pedophiles.
see- charges stayed against pedophile
see- prosecutor's bio

In B.C. the complicity between the Police and the Attorney General's office is becoming increasingly evident with a similar pattern of obstruction being found in both Terry Arnold's and Shannon Murrin's trial.  It is being shown that this is apparently legal and possibly even mandatory for the Police and Crown to obstruct justice for certain Police agents, when "ordered" to do so. This situation is unlikely to occur with low level unauthorized functionaries. 

There is little doubt that Arnold the informant/ was also a serial killer. He was also one of the few able to identify who is authorizing this blatant pattern of legalized obstruction and more importantly, why?  Shannon Murrin has been privy to the same, and is so far still available to answer these questions.
see- Arnold widely acknowledged as a serial killer