In 1991, Maria Shepherd was 21 years of age when she was charged in connection with her stepdaughter’s death. On the strength of the evidence of former and disgraced pathologist,

Charles Smith, Maria, in desperation to save her family, entered a false guilty plea in 1992 and was wrongly convicted of manslaughter.

It would take 25 years for Maria to clear her name. On February 29, 2016, the late Honorable Justice Marc Rosenberg would overturn her conviction. Later that year, Maria would successfully be licensed by the Law Society of Ontario as a Paralegal. Maria went on to open her paralegal firm, Shepherd Advocacy & Litigation.

In 2018, Maria became a Co-Director on the Board of Innocence Canada, formerly the Association In Defense of the Wrongly Convicted (the same organization that provided support to Maria, with James Lockyer as her lead Appellate Counsel).

Today, Maria continues to be a staunch advocate against wrongful convictions and sheds light on its devastating domino effects. As part of Maria’s work, she advocates for a more in-depth plea inquiry process and for a much more careful approach to qualifying “experts” and acceptance of their evidence.

Maria has spoken at events in both Canada and the United States.