R. v. Aquilina
The Court held that while most convictions were supported by sufficient evidence and therefore upheld, the prosecution of the prostitution charge involved a serious unexplained evidentiary discrepancy about a newspaper advertisement which the trial judge did not address; because the judge's reasons did not disclose...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- C41383
- Parties
- Respondent: Her Majesty the Queen; Appellant: Richard Aquilina
- Court
- Court of Appeal for Ontario
- Jurisdiction
- Canada
- Judgment Date
- 15 August 2005
- Procedural Posture
- Criminal / Appeal From Conviction (superior Court of Justice Conviction Dated January 13, 2004)
- Outcome
- Appeal dismissed in part; convictions except for prostitution upheld; prostitution conviction set aside and new trial ordered; sentence appeal abandoned
- Legal Topics
- Conviction Appeal, Evidence, Reasonable Verdict, New Trial
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Her Majesty the Queen
Respondent
Richard Aquilina
Appellant
Procedural Posture
Criminal / Appeal From Conviction (superior Court of Justice Conviction Dated January 13, 2004)
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the convictions were reasonable on the evidence
- 2 Whether a serious discrepancy regarding a newspaper advertisement required a new trial on the prostitution charge
- 3 Whether the trial judge's reasons disclosed the pathway taken to resolve the evidentiary conflict
Ratio Decidendi
The Court held that while most convictions were supported by sufficient evidence and therefore upheld, the prosecution of the prostitution charge involved a serious unexplained evidentiary discrepancy about a newspaper advertisement which the trial judge did not address; because the judge's reasons did not disclose the pathway taken to resolve that conflict, the prostitution conviction was unsafe and must be retried.
Court Disposition
Appeal dismissed in part; convictions except for prostitution upheld; prostitution conviction set aside and new trial ordered; sentence appeal abandoned
Orders
- Conviction for prostitution set aside and new trial ordered
- Appeal of other convictions dismissed
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
1 paragraphs
R. v. Aquilina Collection Decisions of the Court of Appeal Date 2005-08-15 Docket numbers C41383 Judges Goudge, Stephen Thomas; Simmons, Janet M.; Armstrong, Robert Patrick Subject Criminal Decision Content DATE: 20050815 DOCKET: C41383 COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO RE: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) – and – RICHARD AQUILINA (Appellant) BEFORE: GOUDGE, SIMMONS AND ARMSTRONG JJ.A. COUNSEL: Robert Sheppard for the appellant Anthony K. Graburn for the respondent HEARD: August 12, 2005 On appeal from the conviction by Justice Edward R. Browne of the Superior Court of Justice dated January 13, 2004. AMENDED APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT [1] In our view, none of these verdicts are unreasonable. There was evidence sufficient to sustain each conviction. However there was a serious discrepancy on the evidence related to the prostitution conviction: the conflict between the complainant’s evidence about the newspaper ad and the evidence that the police could not locate the ad. The trial judge did not address this in his reasons, leaving an uncertainty of the pathway (in Justice Binnie’s terms) he may have taken to resolve this conflict. In our view this necessitates a new trial on that charge. The appeal of conviction is otherwise dismissed. The sentence appeal is abandoned.