Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson is not only free for the time being; his family has hired a high-powered lawyer from Toronto.
James Lockyer is the founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. He has represented a number of men who were found guilty of serious crimes, only for the courts to realize later they were innocent. His past clients include Steven Truscott and David Milgaard.
On Tuesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted Johnson bail while he waits for the appeal of his conviction to be processed.
The appeal was filed last Thursday, just two days after Windsor Justice Kirk Monroe sentenced him to three years in prison for the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at a downtown nightclub in 2013.
So far, there's no date set to hear the appeal.
An official at the province's highest court says not all the paperwork has been filed yet.