Liland affair

The Liland affair was a Norwegian murder trial, for the 1969 double murder in Fredrikstad, which gave rise to a miscarriage of justice.

At about 10:45 am on 24 December 1969, when two men, John Oval Larsen and Håkon Edvard Johansen were found murdered at Glemmengata 73 in the Norwegian town Fredrikstad. Both had severe head injuries and there was a lot of blood at the scene. It was assumed that an axe was the murder weapon. The address was known to be frequented by people who abused drugs or alcohol and was referred to locally as "little hell". Three drug or alcohol users were arrested on their way to the scene. Two of them were later freed, while the third, Per Kristian Liland, was imprisoned and in 1970 convincted of the crime. Liland always maintained his innocence. After serving his entire sentence he was finally acquitted in 1994 after it became clear that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. The case remains unsolved and is now subject to Norway's statute of limitations.

In 1970, the same year as Liland's conviction Sten and Vibeke Ekroth (a married couple) started to collect information to the benefit of Liland, and a private investigator, Tore Sandberg eventually joined the quest to exonerate him. The Supreme Court of Norway rejected a retrial in 1976, but after having served the sentence he was released in 1993 and acquitted by the Eidsivating Court of Appeal in 1994. Liland won a legal battle for monetary compensation in 1995, but died in 1996.

The affair became a grave embarrassment to the Norwegian criminal justice system.

Prosecution and judgement

Per Kristian Liland was a known member of the drug and alcohol user community in Fredrikstad and was arrested near the scene of the crime on 24 December 1969, just before midday. He was charged with the murders and remanded in custody on 27 December. He remained on remand until his conviction at Eidsivating Court of Appeal on 3 July 1970, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted of the premediatated murder of Larsen and the murder of Johansen (in an attempt to conceal a punishable offence).

The time the murders were carried out was an important point in the case. Pe Liland could only be connected to the murders if they had been committed on the afternoon or evening of 22 December. A local GP, Mikael Frestand, was called to the scene before the Norwegian police unit which deals with serious crime arrived in Fredrikstad. He arrived at the scene shortly after midday and testifed that the bodies were "cold and stiff". He entered 24 December 1969 as the date of death for both victims' death certificates which were issued several days later. In the section on the form which dealt with the when the injuries had taken place, he entered "23/12-24/12?". At the start of the investigation it was assumed that the murders had taken place at some time between 19:30 on 23 December and 02:00 on 24 December.

Court-appointed experts claimed that the murders could have taken place on 22 December. Even though several witnesses also claimed that the murder victims had been seen and that activity had been registered at the address at a later point in time, the court decided to ignore this testimony and found that Per Liland had comitted the murders on 22 December. Alf Nordhus, the lawyer who represented Liland appealed against the handling of the case and the sentencing at the Supreme Court. The appeal was rejected on 28 November 1970.

Initial attempts to have the case reopened

Liland, through Alf Nordhus sought to have the case reopened on 27 December 1971. The application included 1700 pages of documents collected by Sten and Vibeke Ekroth and which also included sound recordings of witnesses who stated that the victims had been seen alive after the murders were supposed to have taken place. Sten Ekroth, a Swedish pop music manager was on an engagement trip with his wife-to-be Vibeke and by chance came to play an important role in the case. The documentation the Ekroths provided formed the basis of the application to have the case looked at again. The couple was newly in love and wanted to document everything they experienced. For that reason they smuggled a tape recorder with them into court. They followed the case closely and had the impression that Liland was innocent. The application to have the case reopened was rejected by Eidsivating Court of Appeal on 7 May 1975. The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court but was rejected by the Court's Appeal committee on 5 March 1976.

Imprisonment

Per Liland served out his sentence until 22 June 1983. At the time Norwegian law allowed sentences of prisoners who were considered a danger to society to be extended by a maximum of ten years. His sentence was extended to the maximum permitted and he remained in prison until 22 June 1993.

Further attempts to have the case reopened

On 23 June 1993, the day after his sentence ended, Liland started a new attempt to have the case reopened. The case was advanced by Ole Jakob Bae and Cato Schiøtz, who later were appointed to the defence in the reopened case.

Basis for Reopening

A decisive factor in Liland's conviction was thet that murders were deemed to have taken place on 22 December. There were several indications that they had actually taken place on 23 December or 24 December, when Per Liland could not be connected to the crime scene.

New medical experts

Analysis of the victim's blood showed that Larsen had a blood alcohol level of 2,3‰ at the time of death, while no alchol was detected in Johansen's blood. There had been a party at the scene of the crime on 22 December and much alcohol had been consumed. Both murder victims were characterised as alcoholics and it was assumed that both were drunk during the party. The original medical experts Jon Lundevall and Johan Chr. Giertsen which the prosecution had relied on therefore concluded that Johansen must have lived for at least 13 hours after having been injured. Testimony from new medical experts did not support this theory. It was also revealed that the two orginal experts had disagreed but that this had not been revealed during the original court case. It also emerged that blood was found at the scene which had not solidified.

Witness statements

At the original trial several witnesses claimed to have seen the two murder victims alive after 22 December. The court decided to ignore these statements. Sten and Vibeke Ekroth had, after the trial, questioned several witnesses who made similar claims. During the reopening of the case further witnesses confirmed that the murder victims had been alive after 22 December.

Coupon in Larsens pocket

It came to light that police officers Hageløkke and Restad, who investigated the scene of the murder had found a food coupon in Larsen's back pocket. The coupon had been issued by Fredrikstad municipality and had a value of 65 kroner. The report detailed that the coupon had the number 121013 and that it was dated 23 December. The prosecution had neglected to present this evidence to the court. It could have, by itself, been enough to aqcuit Per Liland in the first instance.

Further examination revealed that dates in the report had been changed from 23 December to 22 December and that the coupon number had been changed from 121013 to 121031. The coupon itself disappeared and Fredrikstad municipality was also unable to find a copy of the coupon.

Reopening of the case

On 29 April 1994 Eidsivating Court of Appeal decided that the case should be reopened. The prosecution appealed against the decision, but the appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court on 2 September 1994.

Acquital

New charges were brought against Liland. Before the main proceedings, the prosecution informed that court that it intended to drop its objection to a full acquital. The case proceeded on 21 November 1994. Without any evidence being presented, the court acquited Liland.

Compensation

Per Liland applied for compensation under Norwegian trial law. The court awarded him 2900000 kroner for lost income, 840,000 for lost future income and 10000000 kroner for non-economic loses, a total of 13740000 kroner.

See also

• Fritz Moen
• Fredrik Fasting Torgersen
• Bjugn Affair