International Law

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...

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