R. v. Patterson

R. v. Patterson

The accused failed to discharge the evidentiary burden to show on a balance of probabilities that the withheld source handler notes or debriefing reports were reasonably capable of affecting his ability to make full answer and defence or that a Charter s.7 breach occurred; the prosecution did not absolutely refuse disclosure and reasonably exercised its discretion to require particularization of relevance, so the court will not interfere with that discretion and the application for compelled disclosure is dismissed.

Citation
2014 NSPC 37
Parties
Crown: Her Majesty the Queen; Accused: Stephen Mitchell Patterson
Court
Nova Scotia Provincial Court
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
17 June 2014
Procedural Posture
Criminal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (possession for Purpose of Trafficking) / Pre Trial Application for Disclosure (compulsory Production of Confidential Source Materials)
Outcome
Application dismissed
Legal Topics
Confidential Informant Privilege, Prosecutorial Discretion in Disclosure, Right to Full Answer and Defence (charter S.7), Search Warrant/information to Obtain (ito), Relevancy Threshold for Disclosure
Source Language
English
Criminal Law Constitutional Law Evidence Disclosure Law Administrative Law Confidential Informant Privilege Prosecutorial Discretion in Disclosure Right to Full Answer and Defence (charter S.7) +2 more

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Parties

Her Majesty the Queen

Crown

Stephen Mitchell Patterson

Accused

Procedural Posture

Criminal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (possession for Purpose of Trafficking) / Pre Trial Application for Disclosure (compulsory Production of Confidential Source Materials)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether prosecution must disclose source handler notes and source debriefing reports pertaining to a confidential informant
  2. 2 Whether the accused discharged the evidentiary burden to show a s.7 Charter violation or that the withheld materials are reasonably capable of affecting the ability to make full answer and defence
  3. 3 Proper standard and scope of judicial review of prosecutorial discretion to withhold or delay disclosure

Ratio Decidendi

The accused failed to discharge the evidentiary burden to show on a balance of probabilities that the withheld source handler notes or debriefing reports were reasonably capable of affecting his ability to make full answer and defence or that a Charter s.7 breach occurred; the prosecution did not absolutely refuse disclosure and reasonably exercised its discretion to require particularization of relevance, so the court will not interfere with that discretion and the application for compelled disclosure is dismissed.

Court Disposition

Application dismissed

Orders

  • Application for compulsory disclosure of source handler notes and source debriefing reports dismissed