May 23, 1997

By Kevin Gillies
Times Reporter

Sid's stuck. . . for now.

Tami Morrisroe's attempt to appeal Solicitor General Herb Gray's denial of clemency for her father was stopped in its tracks before it hit stride.

"As far as this file is concerned, it's closed," said a court spokesperson after Madame Justice Tremblay-Lamer said she wouldn't hear any more of the case, 30 minutes into it.

Tremblay-Lamer ruled she has no jurisdiction over Gray's ruling.

Tami appeared in federal court Thursday to appeal the process of a clemency hearing at Ferndale Institution in Mission last October which led to Gray's ruling.

The hearing was to apply for Sid Morrisroe release from Ferndale because of his failing health.

Sid Morrisroe suffered a stroke and seizures during his seven and a half years in Ferndale.

Morrisroe was denied the opportunity to have a family physician appear at the hearing and was forced to go ahead with the hearing on her own.

"My father was never requested by this institution or the parole board to take an examination," Tami said at the clemency hearing last October. "This institution has never let my father see a doctor.

"What if my father has an attack on a stat?" she queried then, adding "I have a full slate of heart specialists available."

Tami Morrisroe made headlines recently after going undercover in an effort to gain evidence which would clear her father of the 1983 murder of Vancouver cabaret owner Joe Phillipone.

Tami felt she could not appeal the "no doctor" decision prior to the clemency hearing as she entered the witness protection program shortly afterwards.

Thursday's federal court appearance was an attempt to have the clemency hearing re-heard based on the lack of a doctor at the original October hearing.

However, Tami has a "sister" file which is an outright appeal of the decision - versus the process - and it is expected to come before the court some time in the fall.

While undercover, Tami gained evidence in unrelated murders, including five people murdered on a Harris Road farm last September.

Her story was released in a sensational eight-page Vancouver Province story by columnist Bob Stall.

Her father Sid was moved out of Ferndale last month for his own safety since his daughter's revelations.

Both Morrisroes have maintained Sid's innocence since he was charged and have maintained a web site at http://www.surf101.net/sid.

THE END

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