Under a rare agreement struck with the Ontario Court of Appeal, three CBC cameras will be rolling in a Toronto court as the high-profile review of Steven Truscott’s murder conviction gets underway on Wednesday.

The court is allowing CBC to broadcast the proceedings live, as prosecutors and defense lawyers make their arguments.

‘It’s a case that provides a window into our criminal justice system in three different decades,’ says CBC senior legal counsel Daniel Henry, noting that the case has generated great public interest since the ’50s.

Truscott was convicted in the killing of 12-year-old Lynne Harper in 1959 and sentenced to hang at age 14. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison and Truscott – who has always maintained his innocence – was paroled in 1969. He is seeking an acquittal.

Henry says it’s only the third time in his experience that cameras have been allowed in the court.

‘The first time was in the 1980s as part of an experiment, but that footage never aired because there were technical problems. The second was the Montfort Hospital hearing, which was broadcast live on Newsworld in 2001,’ he recalls.

CBC plans to air a continuous live feed while court is in session on cbc.ca. The footage will also be used for CBC Newsworld’s coverage throughout the day, including highlights of each day’s proceedings to be aired Monday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The review is expected to last two and a half weeks. The feed will be made available to other broadcasters for a fee.