William Sybers and his second wife are now living in Florida where they are expected to remain. Sybers cannot return to his home in British Columbia because Canadian law prohibits immigration by convicts.

Despite the plea bargain, he still maintains that he is innocent of any responsibility in the death of his first wife. And despite the plea bargain, controversy continues to swirl around the case. In the months since Sybers' release, Dershowitz has pointedly challenged Shorstein's handling of the case.

"What I have done... was I raised the question, I have asked the governor to do an investigation," Dershowitz said in a recent interview. "You have a systemic problem when you have somebody who's convicted on the basis of science and it turns out to be junk.

"Before Shorstein had submitted this into evidence he had an independent obligation to make sure that he had a good case. He ducked that obligation."

Gov. Jeb Bush

    

In August 2003, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a special prosecutor in connection with the case. This time, the prosecutor wasn't looking at Bill Sybers.

This time the special prosecutor's job was to probe Harry Shorstein's conduct in the case, including allegations that Shorstein knew that the forensic evidence was questionable before he accepted Sybers' plea, an allegation he emphatically denies.

On October 30, 2003, a grand jury empanelled to hear evidence that had been collected by the special prosecutor declared that Shorstein had done nothing wrong. Two weeks later, according to The Miami Herald, the governor's office decided that no further action was required in the case.

Even that decision does not necessarily mark the end of the case. In a recent interview, Shorstein, still chafing at allegations of possible misconduct, challenged Sybers and his attorneys to bring the matter back to court.

"If [Sybers] can prove that [he] pleaded guilty in March and that I... knew the poison couldn't be introduced and had a duty to tell [him] and... didn't, then... [he should] file a motion to set aside the plea and introduce that evidence."

Dershowitz says that may yet happen.

Sybers is still mulling his options, Dershowitz said, and may at some point decide to seek to set aside his guilty plea. But Dershowitz insists that regardless of what Sybers does, the circumstances surrounding the Sybers case cry out for further scrutiny. The suggestion that such scrutiny can only take place if Sybers again plunges into a courtroom as a defendant "presupposes that if there's an aggressive impropriety here, the only obligation is for Bill Sybers, who spent an inordinate amount of money getting himself vindicated, to fight the system left, right and center," Dershowitz said.

"Why should he have to?" Dershowitz continued. "They've already stolen his money, made him pay a fine. He has a life to live but that doesn't mean that the injustice should not be addressed.

"I think there ought to be an independent body that takes a look at this," Dershowitz said, adding, "If there is a problem, it's with the Florida system of justice."