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Last Entry: January 08, 2009 at 14:32:16

R. v. Garon

Posted on January 08, 2009
How far does a trial judge have to go in reviewing the evidence for a jury? Is this enough? The Crown?s position is that she did not consent to having a beer bottle thrust up her vagina. The Defence?s position is that, after considering all of the evidence you should have a reasonable doubt on that issue...

Impaired driving spikes up in GTA

Posted on January 06, 2009
Apparently ’twas the season to get stupid. Police forces in Toronto and across the GTA say they’re struggling to find an explanation for a spike in impaired driving charges. Over the holiday season drunk driving charges shot up in Toronto by 33 per cent over the previous year while in Peel Region the number was up 47 [...

‘Tis the season

Posted on December 15, 2008
As you may have noticed, it’s been a bit quiet around these parts this month. I’ve had a lot of other stuff on my plate. A state of affairs that’s going to continue through the holidays. So it’s time to announce another mini-hiatus...

On this day

Posted on December 11, 2008
Today CBC’s “On This Day” feature highlights December 11, 1962, which was when Canada’s last executions were held. Both Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas (convicted on unrelated murder charges) were hanged in the Don Jail. A lot of people think two members of the Boyd Gang were this country’s last executions, but that’s off by [...

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R. v. Tomasevich

Posted on December 09, 2008
A discussion of when an accused has to be informed of his s. 10(b) right to retain and instruct counsel when being searched incident to detention. Guidance was taken from the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Suberu (comment: wherein I presciently said: “Get used to ‘brief interlude...

R. v. Palmer

Posted on December 02, 2008
A decision handed down just prior to Mahalingan (comment) on issue estoppel that highlights one of the practical problems courts will face. The accused had been charged with possession, which also led to him being in breach of his conditional sentence...

And now this

Posted on December 01, 2008
If it’s not tasers, it’s pepper spray. An investigation is underway following the death of a 43-year-old man who was pepper-sprayed by RCMP in The Pas, Man. The man died Saturday afternoon, a day after officers had removed him from his ex-wife’s home in The Pas, about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg...

R. v. Batista

Posted on November 28, 2008
A bizarre ruling from the Ontario Court of Appeal dealing with a case involving supposed death threats.

R. v. May

Posted on November 16, 2008
Since it has been a subject of some interest in the discussion threads, here’s a recent case (pdf file) from the Provincial Court of Alberta dismissing a charge of refusing to blow because the officer in question did not have sufficient objective grounds for believing the accused to be impaired...

R. v. Mahalingan

Posted on November 14, 2008
Issue estoppel is a doctrine with a confused history in Canadian criminal law (the root of the problem was the decision in Grdik). So confused has it become, some say it should simply be done away with. Held: Mend it, don’t end it. Specifically, the law on issue estoppel needs to be strictly defined and applied...

Big Mike too big for the big house

Posted on November 12, 2008
On the . . . lighter side: An inmate in a Montreal prison is getting out of jail early because of his morbid obesity. Michel Lapointe, 37, was granted a six-month reduction of his sentence to compensate for what the parole board described as the “inconveniences” he endured because of his heavy weight...

Is there a de minimis defence available in assault cases?

Posted on November 08, 2008
Is there a de minimis defence to assault under Canadian law? Actually the question might be asked what status such a defence (its name comes from the latin tag de minimis non curat lex: the law does not concern itself with trifles) has to any criminal offence in this country...

R. v. Jevons

Posted on November 07, 2008
An earlier post made reference to a case where a man had been set free on a domestic assault charge because it took too long for him to have a bail hearing. That case, R. v. Jevons, is now online at CanLII. Interesting stuff, as basically what was on trial was the bail court system [...

Big bust blows up

Posted on November 06, 2008
Ugh. A young Markham couple charged with faking hundreds of passports, university degrees and government documents was acquitted yesterday after a judge ruled York Regional Police officers violated their rights when they entered their house without a warrant, and arrested them...

R. v. Mathison

Posted on November 05, 2008
A judgment from the Ontario Court of Appeal full of interesting things.

R. v. J. F. (Supreme Court of Canada)

Posted on October 31, 2008
Rather sharp words in a slightly split judgment from the Supreme Court. At issue was whether a jury rendered an inconsistent verdict in acquitting J. F. on charges of manslaughter for failing to provide the necessaries of life to his foster child, but convicting him on the same facts on a charge of manslaughter by criminal [...

Bouck on bail

Posted on October 30, 2008
As Canadian legal blog watchers (all five of you) probably already know, retired Supreme Court of British Columbia judge John C. Bouck has a blog where he routinely offers up critiques of the current legal system and offers suggestions on how to improve it...

And another

Posted on October 29, 2008
This time in Edmonton. I don’t know how many more of these taser-death stories I’m going to link to. Sadly, they are becoming a commonplace. If you want to keep up on the subject you might want to check out the Truth not Tasers blog.

R. v. Ogertschnig

Posted on October 25, 2008
Just because it seems to be such a popular topic, here’s a (rare) example of a court upholding an accused’s refusal to blow. Obviously each case must be looked at in the context of its own circumstances. In this case, the circumstances including the unlawful arrest; the use of handcuffs which were too tight; the [...

R. v. Rojas; R. v. Illes

Posted on October 25, 2008
A pair of cases from the Supreme Court on the application of a new rule on how to treat “mixed” statements. A mixed statement is an out-of-court statement admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule because it is (in part) a statement made against the declarant’s interest (or a confession)...

What’s going on in the Peg?

Posted on October 23, 2008
From the CBC: Manitoba and Winnipeg are once again leading Canada in murders, according to a Statistics Canada report released Thursday. There were 62 homicides in Manitoba last year ? the highest number since data were first collected in 1961, and up from 39 killings in 2006...

HIV trial gets started

Posted on October 21, 2008
A report on the first day by Rosie DiManno. This is one I’m going to be interested in following.

R. v. Singh

Posted on October 21, 2008
What is the test for determining when a trial judge has been prejudiced by hearing inadmissible evidence? Why, the Hamlet test of course (pdf file). Here, the rule of law proposed for the applicant is that a trial judge must make it clear by his reasons that he was not prejudiced by inadmissible evidence, or at least [...

Landmark HIV trial

Posted on October 20, 2008
After five years (?!) spent in pre-trial custody, Johnson Aziga goes to trial today in Hamilton on first-degree murder charges for allegedly spreading the HIV virus. Two women Aziga allegely had unprotected sex with while infected subsequently died of the disease...

R. v. Luedecke

Posted on October 17, 2008
Mr. Luedecke was (remarkably) acquitted at trial after claiming he sexually assaulted a young woman in his sleep (the result of a condition known as “sexsomnia” — see some earlier commentary here). It was held that his actions were involuntary and they were not the product of a mental disorder...

Drunk drivers getting drunker?

Posted on October 17, 2008
At least that seems to be the case in Nova Scotia: Cpl. Joe Taplin, an RCMP spokesman, said officers are nabbing impaired drivers with much higher readings on breathalyzer tests than the legal limit of .08, or 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood ? whether at night or during the day...

Racing statistics

Posted on October 16, 2008
Interesting story with some statistics on racing drivers in Ontario. Here are the highlights: Police services across the province have charged one motorist every hour of every day since the introduction of Section 172 of the Highway Traffic Act a year ago this month...

R. v. Duncan

Posted on October 14, 2008
After being arrested for blowing over, Mr. Duncan was read his rights. He told the officer he wanted to read him his “card.” Apparently there are these things called “rights cards” that a detainee can present or read from upon arrest...

R. v. Bauld

Posted on October 12, 2008
Credibility in a crack house. Sad case. Not particularly interesting from a legal standpoint, but shocking as social commentary.

What some people call a “technicality”

Posted on October 10, 2008
Others consider a fundamental right. The headline writer for this Toronto Star story has chosen the former option: “Judge frees assault suspect on technicality.” A man charged with domestic assault was set free today without having to face a trial after his lawyer argued it took too long for him to have a bail hearing...

R. v. DeCoste

Posted on October 07, 2008
A couple of guys got into an argument in a pub and decided to take it outside. Mr. DeCoste punched his opponent in the chin, sending him to the ground where he hit his head on the pavement and was knocked unconscious. At trial Mr. DeCoste was acquitted because the Crown had not shown an [...

R. v. Blais

Posted on October 03, 2008
This case considers the proper approach to the exercise of the discretion to issue a subpoena under s. 698(1) of the Code where it is proposed to subpoena a person to give expert evidence in a proceeding to which that person has no ties and in which he or she is otherwise a complete stranger...

R. v. R. E. M., R. v. H. S. B.

Posted on October 02, 2008
The Supreme Court hands down a pair of decisions (R. E. M., H. S. B.) giving some guidelines on the sufficiency of judicial reasons. The lead case is R. E. M., where the Court first of all provides a solid grounding for why “a trial judge on a criminal trial where the accused?s innocence is at [...

Oversight unseen

Posted on September 30, 2008
Ontario?s system of police oversight has failed to live up to its promise due to a ?complacent? culture and a lack of rigour in ensuring police follow the rules, Ontario Ombudsman Andr� Marin says in his latest special report, released today. In Oversight Unseen, Mr...

R. v. Briscoe

Posted on September 30, 2008
A notorious case, and unpopular decision, overturned by the Alberta Court of Appeal. Briscoe was one of a group of mostly young people, led by a fellow named Laboucan, who kidnapped, raped, and killed a young girl. (Yet another sign that something is very, very wrong with young people today: “In the hours before the killing, [...

Community court in the news

Posted on September 29, 2008
In an earlier post on Vancouver’s new community court (designed to handle “minor crimes committed in the downtown area”) I raised an eyebrow at some of the serious offences that were apparently going to be tried there. In this case we have an assault that may have been motivated by the victim’s being gay, thus [...

Terror conviction

Posted on September 26, 2008
Already lots of buzz over this (you can download a .pdf of the decision at the CBC here): An Ontario Superior Court judge has convicted a 20-year-old man of conspiring in a group plot to bomb several Canadian targets, including Parliament Hill, RCMP headquarters and nuclear power plants...

Milgaard report

Posted on September 26, 2008
The official report of the Milgaard Inquiry has been released. You can read it here, or about it here. At first glance, I don’t see where it’s saying much that we didn’t already know.

The chocolate smugglers

Posted on September 26, 2008
Apparently dogs and drug tests aren’t always reliable. Who knew? The drug-sniffing dogs were coming. They knew they were in trouble again ? for carrying chocolate. Even with their certified letter from the Department of Justice, which clearly outlined the organic chocolate they were carting across the U...

Getting tougher on crime

Posted on September 23, 2008
Electioneering: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives pledged today to put forward a new version of the party’s bill to remove the option of judges handing out house arrest for a list of 30 crimes ? and to make the matter a confidence motion that would trigger an election...

Getting tough on crime (again)

Posted on September 22, 2008
Well, this is a surprise (more here). Conservative leader Stephen Harper says if re-elected he would alter young offenders legislation to give judges the discretion to sentence persons aged 14 and older to life in prison if convicted of first-degree or second-degree murder...

Prison diet

Posted on September 20, 2008
Like many a fellow of a certain age, I’ve been trying to cut down on the calories. So this story from the Star caught my eye. At 5 feet, 11 inches and 170 pounds, Raymond Martin is so hungry he loses his ability to concentrate on court proceedings, according to his sworn affidavit...

R. v. Mulroney

Posted on September 19, 2008
As you know, I don’t usually link to “over 80″ cases, even though they are the bread and butter of many a practice, because I don’t find them very interesting. As an example of the kind of thing that goes on, here we have the case of a fellow who blew into a breathalyzer (the [...

The beat goes on

Posted on September 18, 2008
But I think there may be a real problem this time. A 42-year-old Brampton, Ont., man died yesterday morning after he was tasered during a struggle with four Peel regional police officers while in custody the night before. Peel police arrested Sean Reilly at a home in Mississauga around 5 p...

Enforcing limits

Posted on September 13, 2008
From the Globe and Mail: RCMP announced Friday that criminal charges have been laid against an Alberta tavern, its owner and a bartender in connection with the death of a 22-year-old patron who was allegedly over-served when she was already drunk. According to relatives, Tammy Kobylka was drinking shooters on Oct...

Taser report

Posted on September 12, 2008
Hmmmm. OTTAWA?The RCMP did not do “due diligence” when it approved the Taser stun gun for use as a less-than-lethal weapon by its officers, a hard-hitting independent review concludes. … Submitted in June to Elliott but not made public, the review says the RCMP relied too much on the advice of the Taser’s American manufacturer in developing its [...

Community court in Vancouver

Posted on September 11, 2008
As reported in the Globe and Mail, yesterday marked the opening of Canada’s first “community court” in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The community court is designed to hear cases involving minor crimes committed in the downtown area, such as theft ranging from auto and shoplifting, mischief, assault and drug possession...

R. v. L. T. H.

Posted on September 11, 2008
According to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (s. 146), no statement by a young person to a person in authority is admissible in evidence against that young person unless the statement was voluntary and the person who took it ?clearly explained to the young person, in language appropriate to his or her age and understanding? [...

R. v. Bonisteel

Posted on September 10, 2008
In recent years the strange phenomenon of the false confession has been gaining a lot of attention. Strange because, after all, who would confess to a crime they didn’t commit? Because of this common sense way of looking at things, the value of a confession as proof of guilt is quite high, and typically a [...

R. v. Ellard (again)

Posted on September 05, 2008
You know you’ve been blogging for a while when you find the same cases coming up again and again. I actually commented on this case way back in 2006 (an eternity in internet years). Anyway, the (seemingly) endless trials of Kelly Ellard will continue, as the British Columbia Court of Appeal has overturned her third [...

R. v. Badgerow

Posted on September 05, 2008
An interesting decision on an accused’s s. 10(b) right to retain and instruct counsel. In 2001 Mr. Badgerow was convicted at trial of the first degree murder of Diane Werendowicz in 1981 (subsequent DNA testing linked him to the crime). At issue on appeal was whether the trial judge erred in failing to exclude a statement [...

R. v. Spratt; R. v. Watson

Posted on September 04, 2008
Appellants Watson and Spratt were charged under British Columbia’s Access to Abortion Services Act for interfering within the access zone to an abortion clinic. The challenged their convictions on the ground that the provision they were charged with was an unconstitutional infringement of their freedom of expression...

No exceptions?

Posted on September 03, 2008
From the CBC: Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino has said repeatedly that drivers who go 50 km/h over the speed limit will have their car seized on the spot and their licence suspended for seven days ? with no exceptions. But there were two exceptions, and both were OPP officers...

Judging the judge

Posted on September 03, 2008
From the Toronto Star: A judge accused of abusing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms during a high-profile murder trial admitted yesterday the case was “not a model judicial proceeding” and offered his regrets to lawyers ? and the victim’s family ? for hardships caused by his mistakes...

Tasers zapped by Zaccardelli

Posted on September 03, 2008
Apparently former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli thinks the force should stop using tasers. Not really much of a story since he’s the former head, and so his opinion is just another opinion. I’m also a bit disturbed by his reasoning: “And you know, after all that I’ve thought about it, I’ve come more and more to [...

No web, no life

Posted on September 03, 2008
Technology is a major stress factor in our lives because (a) we don’t really understand it, and (b) it never works the way it’s supposed to. Still. From the Globe and Mail: It’s a story as old as the Internet. You fire up your Web browser and all you get is some cryptic error message...

This may take a while

Posted on September 02, 2008
Just because this is a story I know we all like to keep hearing about . . . As reported by CBC news: The 10 adults accused of plotting a militant attack in Toronto all appeared in a Brampton court on Tuesday as the judge began hearing defence motions claiming the way the case has proceeded violates [...

Summer hiatus

Posted on July 03, 2008
Hello readers! This is just a note to let you know that I’ll be taking some time off for the rest of the summer. Hopefully I’ll be back with more posts in the fall. See you then!

Mental health and incarceration

Posted on June 26, 2008
A story in the Globe and Mail today on the incarceration of the mentally ill: Canada’s provincial jails and federal prisons are home to a burgeoning number of offenders with mental disorders, many of them repeat offenders ? so-called frequent fliers...

A cautionary tale

Posted on June 25, 2008
You have to pay attention to cases like these because of what they tell us about the justice system. An Ontario man convicted of assaulting a teenage girl 21 years ago was exonerated Wednesday by the Ontario Court of Appeal after new information revealed imprisoned killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo had confessed to the crime...

Twist in terror trial

Posted on June 19, 2008
Odd developments in the Toronto 18 terror trial. Apparently the Crown yesterday accused its “star witness,” police mole Mubin Shaikh, of lying. Things started to unwind over what Thomas Walkom in the Star refers to as a “seemingly minor point” but which Isabel Teotonio refers to as a “crucial” discrepancy...

Loose ends

Posted on June 12, 2008
Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but I’ve been outrageously busy. And it’s been such nice weather. Hopefully I’ll be able to be back on track soon. In the meantime . . . Watch the full tape (or a choice edit) of Paul Bernardo’s police interview...

R. v. Wittwer

Posted on June 12, 2008
An incriminating statement made by the appellant to the police upon being confronted with an earlier statement obtained from him in violation of his constitutional rights is inadmissible so long as there is a connection between the two statements that is “temporal, contextual, causal or a combination of the three...

More on tasers

Posted on June 01, 2008
Since this has been a topic of some interest here, just thought I’d link to a good overview of the subject in today’s Toronto Star. Lots of numbers (20 Canadian deaths “linked to” taser use, 352 people tasered by Toronto police in 2007) and some background on what the policy is for their use...

R. v. Hughes

Posted on May 31, 2008
The accused Hughes had seriously injured a cat at his girlfriend’s apartment and they decided to kill it to end its suffering. The girlfriend told the accused to break its neck. He instead decided to strap a weight on top of it and stick it in the microwave...

London (City) v. Young

Posted on May 31, 2008
If the “set fine” box on your Ontario Certificate of Offence is inaccurate, do nothing. The proceedings should be quashed. So says a majority of the Ontario Court of Appeal. An incorrectly entered set fine is not “mere surplusage” but means the certificate is not “complete and regular” on its face...

R. v. Lewis and Renaud

Posted on May 31, 2008
Things getting out of hand. It’s not easy being a cabbie, especially with what’s happening with gas prices. In this case one Monsur Moohidine took the accused home to their apartment building. They said they had to go in to get the fare. It was clear they weren’t planning on coming back...

R. v. L. M.

Posted on May 30, 2008
A decision from the Supreme Court on the application of maximum sentences. An often-used rule of thumb in criminal law used to be that the maximum sentence for an offence should only be applied for the “worst offenders” — those who commit the worst crimes in the worst circumstances...

R. v. Strong

Posted on May 27, 2008
You know how I said a couple of weeks ago that you can expect to hear a lot more from the Supreme Court’s line in Dinardo that ?the inquiry into the sufficiency of the reasons should be directed at whether the reasons respond to the case?s live issues...

The fast and the foolish

Posted on May 19, 2008
From the Toronto Star: A Barrie-area teenager?s license has been suspended after he was pulled over for driving 239 kilometres per hour in an 80-kilometre zone. Huronia West OPP were on a routine patrol at 1:50 a.m. today when they saw a black 2000 Lincoln LLS travelling north on Highway 26, north of Barrie...

R. v. D. B.

Posted on May 16, 2008
A bare (5-4) majority of the Supreme Court holds that a young person who commits a “presumptive offence” under the Youth Criminal Justice Act cannot be automatically be presumed to attract an adult sentence (as is mandated under the legislation)...

Yeah, that’s safe

Posted on May 13, 2008
Driving while talking on a cellphone is one thing. Text messaging another. Then there’s this: WINDSOR, Ont. - A man from Windsor, Ont., has learned the hard way that drivers should not be watching movies while dealing with highway traffic. Especially while speeding...

R. v. Dinardo

Posted on May 09, 2008
Perhaps the most cited/litigated/commented on case in Canadian criminal law today is W. (D.). Basically that case covers he said/she said credibility situations and sets down the process of reasoning that a trial judge is supposed to follow in order to find an accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt...

Unbelievable

Posted on May 09, 2008
This has gone too far. An elderly man in Kamloops, B.C., was zapped three times on the torso by a police stun gun while lying on his hospital bed, CBC News has learned. Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the Taser marks on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through [...

Some disturbing news from the UK,

Posted on May 07, 2008
Some disturbing news from the UK, where the use of CCTV cameras virtually everywhere have apparently not had much of an effect on crime. LONDON?In becoming the world’s most-watched nation, Britain was promised a commensurate drop in crime. But the estimated 4...

R. v. Rybak

Posted on May 05, 2008
The Ontario Court of Appeal clarifies the s. 14 right to an interpreter. The appellant urges a bright line rule that essentially proceeds from any showing of a need for interpreter assistance to provision of continuous, precise, impartial, competent and contemporaneous interpretation as the only means of ensuring that the language deficient have the same opportunity [...

Age of consent raised

Posted on May 01, 2008
The Tackling Violent Crime Act (read it) comes into effect today, raising the age of consent in Canada from 14 to 16 as well as providing higher mandatory prison sentences for those committing serious gun crimes. The age of consent provision is getting the most headlines, though I suspect the gun laws will have more [...

Big Brother, we love you

Posted on May 01, 2008
Fall-out from the Supreme Court’s drug-sniffer dog cases? OTTAWA?The Harper government is miffed at two Supreme Court judgments restricting sniffer-dog searches in schools and other public places, and it’s hinting it will take action to offset them...

R. v. Conway

Posted on April 29, 2008
At issue in this appeal was whether the Ontario Review Board (the ?ORB?) is a ?court of competent jurisdiction? within the meaning of s. 24(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The appellant Conway had been a resident of psychiatric institutions for the past 24 years, since being found not criminally responsible by [...

R. v. Sheikh

Posted on April 27, 2008
A rather interesting public indecency case. In the present case, the facts are that the Appellant was seated in a reclining position in the driver?s seat of his vehicle with his pants at his ankles, his penis was erect and he was in the course of putting a condom on his penis...

R. v. W. V. J. C.

Posted on April 26, 2008
In his reasons for sentence in a case involving an ambiguous jury verdict on a charge of sexual assault, Mr. Justice S. R. Romilly makes the following comment: Permit me to say that I was a bit surprised to see that the accused elected trial by jury for this offence, especially because of my comments in [...

Constitutional round-up

Posted on April 25, 2008
Christopher’s Law (named after Christopher Stephenson, a child killed by a sex offender on parole), is an Ontario law requiring convicted sex offenders to register with the police. According to the Ontario Court of Appeal it is constitutional. While the reporting requirements of Christopher?s Law admittedly infringe the liberty interests of the appellant and others in [...

The biggest losers

Posted on April 19, 2008
The Toronto Terror Trial has officially become farce. As reported in the Toronto Star (under the damning headline “Terror Training or Dieting?”): So was it simply a fat camp for Muslim boys? Or was it a jihadist training camp where attendees were encouraged to wage war on Canada because of its military presence in Afghanistan? A video was [...

There must be more to this

Posted on April 17, 2008
At first blush this just seems like another case of police overreaction. Handcuffing a ten-year old for playing his Xbox too loudly? Lukasz Gurzynski said he and five friends were in the midst of a noisy swordfight with sticks and a loud game of Xbox on Sunday when the next-door neighbour yelled at them to quiet [...

R. v. Gibson

Posted on April 17, 2008
The Supreme Court gives “straddle” evidence of intoxication a qualified thumbs-up. As I mentioned in my Statement of Principles post a while back, I’m really not interested in drinking and driving cases. They are, of course, the bread and butter of many a practice and regularly get fought and appealed more than any other criminal offence, [...

Terror case sinking?

Posted on April 15, 2008
The Toronto Star reports on the staying of charges against four of the “Brampton/Toronto 18″ terrorist cell. If it really was a terrorist cell. I’ve commented on this story before and I have to admit I’m confused about all of these developments...

R. v. Legare

Posted on April 14, 2008
The Alberta Court of Appeal considers (pdf file) what Parliament accomplished in enacting s. 172.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code. The section is designated as “luring a child,” but “luring” is not a word used in the actual wording of the section...

Unsafe at any speed

Posted on April 04, 2008
An artist has beaten the ticket he received for “driving” a performance sculpture around Toronto. In fact, the vehicle (which goes by the name “Shared Propulsion Car” while on display) is a hollowed-out 1986 Buick Regal that operates Flintstone-style by pedal power...

Tele-Mobile Co. v. Ontario

Posted on March 28, 2008
If the police want documents or data records from third parties, which they are entitled to obtain under new provisions in the Criminal Code, those third parties cannot ask for compensation. (More at the CBC.) The issue in this case is whether a judge has the power to make it a term or condition of a [...

Kommando Kamp

Posted on March 27, 2008
More details come out about the “shocking and sensational” training camp of the “Brampton 18″ (see my previous post here). Apparently even the police thought one suspect’s call for jihad was “blowing smoke,” his “jihadist ambitions, to the extent he had them, were limited only by the fact that he had neither the means, skill [...

Beavis and Butthead’s terror plot

Posted on March 26, 2008
One of the few things that are still said in defense of the Worst U. S. President Ever is that he has somehow managed to “keep America safe” during the so-called War on Terror. I have never found these arguments particularly convincing. It seems to me that he bears some responsibility for the failures leading [...

Taser time

Posted on March 25, 2008
A new report that came out today (CBC, Toronto Star) paints a troubling picture about the reporting of Taser use. The RCMP is stripping crucial details about Taser firings from public reports as use of the controversial stun guns skyrockets across the country...

R. v. Swan

Posted on March 19, 2008
An application of the Supreme Court’s decision in Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (Attorney General) on the availability of the defence provided by s. 43 of the Criminal Code (”Correction of child by force”) in a case of assault...

R. v. Stirling (SCC)

Posted on March 14, 2008
In a brief decision the Supreme Court upholds the B. C. Court of Appeal’s ruling in R. v. Stirling. No surprise to readers of this blog. The case dealt with the use that prior consistent statements can be put, and the fine line between rebutting an allegation of recent fabrication and supporting a witness’s credibility...

Murderabilia

Posted on March 11, 2008
This is going too far: Corrections Canada has been ordered to review the Internet-based auction of prison artwork by a convicted killer. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day asked the commissioner of the prisons agency to look into the case involving Roch Theriault, now serving a life sentence in New Brunswick for a brutal murder...

R. v. Caldwell

Posted on March 11, 2008
Back in July I ran a post about the decision in R. v. Long (I didn’t have a link to the decision then, but it’s up now here) which found that provisions for the legal use of marihuana for medical purposes were unconsititutional. Now the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia’s ruling in R...

R. v. Smedley

Posted on March 10, 2008
Having a bit of fun with statutory interpretation (pdf file). Mr. Smedley and Ms. Parker kept 13 chickens in a shed on their property in a residential neighbourhood, in violation of a Halifax by-law prohibiting keeping “livestock” (including “fowl”) in an “accessory building...

The CSI Effect

Posted on March 10, 2008
Canadian jurors are being brainwashed by American cop shows! It’s called the CSI Effect. The Toronto Star reports: The so-called phenomenon, CSI effect, named after the top-rated crime scene investigation series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, is alarming U...

Shifting paradigms

Posted on March 04, 2008
The Literary Review of Canada isn’t one of the usual sources for this site, but their latest issue has an interesting essay by security consultant Paul McKenna arguing that policing has seen a shift away from the “community-based” approach to fighting crime that was in vogue in the 90s to a more technology-based, information driven [...

R. v. National Post

Posted on February 29, 2008
In an important case examining the scope of reporter-source privilege, the Ontario Court of Appeal orders an investigative journalist to give it up. (For a quick overview, the Star has a story.) Investigative reporter Andrew McIntosh had in his possession an apparently forged loan document purporting to show the owner of a Quebec golf club owed money to Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s holding company and planned to repay it with a loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada...

R. v. Ferguson (SCC)

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Supreme Court of Canada passed down its ruling today in R. v. Ferguson (for some background on what the case was about and the decisions in the lower courts, see my earlier comment here). The news media have been all over it (CBC, Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star)...

R. v. Dreyer

Posted on February 27, 2008
Another search incident to arrest, this time of the appellant’s car during a liquor search. After the appellant had been told to leave the car an officer searched the car, ostensibly for liquor, and found cocaine in a brown paper bag. Luckily for him, under the relevant legislation (s...

Something fishy

Posted on February 26, 2008
Lots of news coverage of this story: Ontario’s ombudsman has blasted the province’s Legal Aid agency for “catastrophic” errors in judgment in the financing of the $1 million defence of former Toronto police officer Richard Wills...

R. v. Noble

Posted on February 25, 2008
An interesting application of hate law legislation to the Internet. The accused was running some kind of neo-nazi white supremacy website. Was this promoting hatred by communicating statements other than in private conversation? Yes. The use of the Internet has in many respects transformed the world of communications and the word itself...

R. v. Six Accused Persons

Posted on February 25, 2008
S. 184.4 of the Criminal Code is constitutionally invalid (according to the Supreme Court of British Columbia).

R. v. Beatty

Posted on February 22, 2008
The Supreme Court takes another hack at criminal negligence for the offence of dangerous driving. And, in three concurring judgments, offers plenty of grist for the mill. I don’t know if I understand the decision, but since I’m sure I’ll be reading analyses of it for the next couple of years, I can live with my uncertainty...

R. v. Smith

Posted on February 14, 2008
The appellant was convicted of breaching a term of his recognizance that required him to remain at least fifty metres from the British Embassy in Ottawa. The appellant testified that he believed that the term required him to remain fifteen metres from the Embassy...

Dance, dance, dance

Posted on February 13, 2008
From the CP wire (here at the Globe and Mail): The definition of “indecent” was debated in Provincial Court yesterday as the trial of a man accused of dancing naked on his lawn concluded in Moncton. Peter William Bulman is accused of exposing himself to a woman and her young daughter on Sept...

R. v. Harrison

Posted on February 12, 2008
A close call from the Ontario Court of Appeal on a s. 24(2) case. The appellant had been stopped by a police officer and his SUV searched. Found inside were 77 pounds of cocaine (for some reason the Court eschews our newfangled metric system throughout their decision)...

Well, that’s a relief

Posted on February 11, 2008
From the Toronto Star: There is nothing in the provincial legislation to prevent drivers from flashing their headlights to warn oncoming traffic of a police radar spot check, according to police and other officials. Wheels readers have expressed their opinions about a recent Jim Kenzie story in which Brad Diamond, host of TSN’s Motoring 2008, was charged under an obscure section of Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act that regulates alternating flashing headlights typically used by emergency vehicles...

R. v. Abel and Corbett

Posted on February 09, 2008
Abel and Corbett were convicted of offences arising out of their apprehension of one Holl, who was in possession of Abel’s rifle. Abel and Corbett wanted to argue at trial that they were effecting a citizen’s arrest, but the trial judge would not put this defence to the jury...

R. v. Rattray

Posted on February 07, 2008
The appellant was convicted of breaching a court order by being in possession of a firearm. His argument on appeal was that the court did not have jurisdiction over the offences, since possession of a gun in Michigan (which is where he bought an assault rifle) does not constitute an offence in Canada...

Sexsomnia on trial

Posted on February 07, 2008
Is sexsomnia a mental illness? That is what is being argued before the Ontario Court of Appeal in an appeal of the decision in the Luedecke case, where a man was acquitted on a defense of non-insane automatism after having sex with a woman apparently while he was asleep...

A big one goes down

Posted on February 01, 2008
A case described as the “largest police corruption scandal in Canadian history” has ended after ten years of investigation and court proceedings with all charges being stayed agains the six accused because lengthy delays violated their Charter right to a fair trial...

R. v. V. W.

Posted on January 27, 2008
Are victim impact statements admissible to prove the facts required to make an SVO (Serious Violent Offender) designation in a hearing under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and, if they are, does the offender have the right to cross-examine the victim? Sort of...

R. v. C. L. Y.

Posted on January 25, 2008
The Supreme Court overturns a decision, shockingly upheld by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, that can only be described, in the cliched phrase, as a travesty of justice. C. L. Y. was a teenager accused of inappropriately touching a girl he was babysitting...

Vox populi

Posted on January 24, 2008
The CBC, who broke the story, have more updates on the controversy over the release of a police surveillance videotape that shows a 15-year-old girl being restrained within a padded cell after being picked up for drunk and disorderly behaviour. Specifcally, the video shows Willow Kinlock being handcuffed and having her legs bound with a nylon strap and her feet secured to the bottom of the cell door, which gave her just a few centimetres to move...

R. v. Nguyen

Posted on January 24, 2008
While investigating a basement grow-op, a police officer saw a van driven by the appellant enter the driveway. The appellant, a Vietnamese immigrant, briefly stopped his van and then began to leave the driveway in reverse. The officer was wearing a vest with the word ?Police? in large white letters...

Family Day follies

Posted on January 17, 2008
The Toronto Star reports “Family Day a field day for scofflaws.” Apparently around a thousand minor traffic charges have been thrown out because of court scheduling conflicts arising from Ontario’s new “Family Day” holiday (which is February 18)...

R. v. Kanda

Posted on January 15, 2008
Mr. Kanda was driving his two sons to school. His youngest son, eight years old, was in the back seat. When they left the house Mr. Kanda made sure everyone was wearing their seat belt. Alas, he was not aware that his son in the back seat had unfastened his seat belt during the drive...

R. v. Colson

Posted on January 15, 2008
As framed by the appellant, this appeal raises one issue only: what is the standard of proof to be applied in determining whether an accused has “voluntarily” provided a bodily sample for purposes of DNA testing? Is it proof on a balance of probabilities, employing Charter principles, as applied by the trial judge in the circumstances of this case? Or is it proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by the common law confessions rule, as the appellant contends it should be? Held: The standard is proof on a balance of probabilities (the so-called Wills test)...

R. v. Vanmerrebach

Posted on January 10, 2008
Ford Mustangs have a bad reputation. Mainly for stalling for no particular reason. But also because young people turn into idiots when they get behind the wheel. In this case before the Nova Scotia Supreme Court (pdf file) the accused was driving home in his “newly acquired” ‘Stang with a pair of friends when he lost control and sailed into a utility pole...

R. v. Burns

Posted on January 09, 2008
The Ontario Court of Appeal looks at the meaning of “threatening conduct,” in a case of criminal harrassment. Specifically, the harassment complained of fell under s. 264(d) of the Criminal Code. The Court took as their starting point the definition of threatening conduct given by the Yukon Territory Court of Appeal in George...

R. v. Wood

Posted on January 08, 2008
The CBC had a bit of fun with the story — see “Whitehorse man wins breathalyzer challenge, claiming too ‘cheap’ to be impaired” — but there is a point being made in this judgment (pdf file) from the Yukon Territorial Court...

Two takes on child pornography

Posted on January 08, 2008
Writing in the Globe and Mail (January 5, 2008 — available to subscribers only or I’d give you the link), Christie Blatchford ponders why the punishments for child porn don’t fit the crime. As you can probably guess, she is all for tougher sentencing...

The beat goes on

Posted on January 07, 2008
As expected, British Columbia’s Attornery General Wally Oppal today announced that the Crown will be appealing Robert William Pickton’s second-degree murder convictions. Pickton (the CBC has a good backgrounder, and he even has his own Wikipedia page), is now 58 years old, and was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years (the maximum under the law)...

Speed demon

Posted on January 04, 2008
More funny criminal law news to start the year off with a smile. This time from the Toronto Star: An 85-year-old police say they clocked speeding at 161 km/h broke more than just the speed limit. He also became the oldest person to be charged under new street racing legislation, which came into effect Sept...

When is a law not a law?

Posted on January 03, 2008
When it’s not going to be enforced. As reported by the CBC: A new smoking law in Alberta bans smoking within five metres of a public building or workplace, but in some areas the rule forces smokers into the middle of a road. On Edmonton’s popular Whyte Avenue, the new law forces smokers to step over the curb into traffic in order to be five metres away from a building...

Where I’m blogging from

Posted on January 02, 2008
OK everybody, I’m back to give this blog thing a go for another year. Or at least until I collapse. I’ll try to update consistently, but I might not be doing as much commentary as in the past. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, I thought I might kick 2008 off with a quick list of principles and random thoughts that might help you get an idea of where it is I’m coming from, or blogging from, in all of this...

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