Ontario will pay Steven Truscott $6.5 million in compensation for the 48 years he stood accused of a rape and murder he did not commit.

Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley made the announcement Monday morning in Toronto, explaining that he made the decision on the advice of retired judge Sydney Robins, who was asked to study whether compensation would be appropriate, and if so, how much.

In August 2007, the Ontario Court of Appeal acquitted Truscott of murdering his friend, 12-year-old Lynne Harper, in the southwestern Ontario town of Clinton in 1959. The court said the conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

Truscott was sentenced to hang at age 14, becoming Canada's youngest death-row inmate after one of the most famous trials in the country's history. After four months on death row, the sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Two attempts to appeal the conviction failed before he was granted parole in 1969.

For nearly three decades, Truscott kept a low profile, raising a family in Guelph, Ont., before going public in 1997 about his life and beginning a new fight to clear his name.

The Ontario Court of Appeal began its eight-month review of Truscott's case in February. Shortly after the decision was released, then Attorney General Michael Bryant said the Crown has no plans to appeal.

"On behalf of the government, I am truly sorry," he said at the time. "It is a decision that will not be appealed by the Crown - it is over."

Provincial legislators have been calling for Truscott to receive payment. In April, Guelph's Liz Sandals of the ruling Liberal party tabled a private member's motion seeking support for compensation for Truscott, and all parties approved it.

With files from the Canadian Press

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