Nicole O’Byrne speaks with Wayne Sumner about his book, Prairie Justice: The Hanging of Mike Hack.
Prairie Justice explores the 1928 murder of George Edey in Saskatchewan and the swift conviction and execution of Mike Hack, a deaf and mentally disabled farmhand. Denied clemency, Hack was hanged in 1929 at the age of twenty-seven. Author Wayne Sumner traces the case from investigation to execution, drawing on personal family ties to the story. Through this gripping account, the book sheds light on broader issues in Canada's criminal justice system, including unfitness to stand trial, the insanity defence, ineffective legal representation, and the risk of wrongful convictions—ultimately exposing how justice can fail the poor and marginalized.
Wayne Sumner is a university professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
Image Credit: University of Toronto Press
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