Canada Case Law

R. v. McCook

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing was the culmination of an escalating pattern of intimate partner violence; the offence is manslaughter by reckless discharge of a firearm placed in the middle portion of the manslaughter range given extreme voluntary intoxication, absence of planning or deliberate targeting, and significant Indigenous Sentencing factors; after a modest downward adjustment to give effect to a structured community reintegration plan the appropriate global sentence is six years and nine months imprisonment with enhanced pre-sentence credit (1.5…

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• Manslaughter
• Firearm offences
• Intoxication
• Gardiner hearing
• Gladue factors
• Pre-sentence custody credit

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R. v. Chow

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The British Columbia Supreme Court allowed an appeal from a sexual assault conviction, finding the trial judge’s repeated interventions created an appearance of unfairness.

• Sexual assault
• Consent
• Intoxication
• Judicial intervention
• Appearance of unfairness
• Trial fairness

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R. v. Turner

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed Cassidy Joel Turner’s appeal from a conviction for unlawfully being in a dwelling-house with intent to commit an indictable offence.

• Unlawful entry (s.349 criminal code)
• Presumption of intent (s.349(2))
• Lawful excuse
• Intoxication as evidence to the contrary
• Credibility and sufficiency of reasons
• Unlawful-entry

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R. v. Priddle

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Sentencing after a jury conviction for second degree murder, robbery and vehicle theft. The court imposed life imprisonment with 10 years parole ineligibility.

• Sentencing
• Parole ineligibility
• Murder
• Aggravating and mitigating factors
• Self‑defence
• Intoxication

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R. v. Pierre

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The trial judge misdirected the jury by permitting after-the-fact conduct evidence to be used generally to infer mens rea for murder without a limiting instruction, failed to give a required limiting direction concerning concealment/consciousness-of-guilt when the level of culpability was a live issue, and invited an impermissible inference from alleged callous post-offence behaviour; these errors rendered the charge inaccurate and deprived the accused of a fair trial, warranting setting aside the conviction and ordering a new trial.

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• After-the-fact conduct
• Intoxication
• Mens rea
• Consciousness of guilt
• Limiting instruction
• Jury charge

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D.K.E. v. Hotel Belmont F&B Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

La Cour suprême de la Colombie-Britannique rejette une demande visant à radier une action fondée sur une agression sexuelle alléguée, estimant que les questions de consentement et de crédibilité doivent aller au procès.

• Motion to strike
• Abuse of process
• Consent
• Intoxication
• Anonymity/sealing
• Motion-to-strike

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R. v. Scott

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court sentenced Lindsay Scott to six years for manslaughter, with three years’ probation, after finding her culpability was reduced by mental illness and methamphetamine intoxication.

• Manslaughter
• Intoxication
• Mental disorder as mitigation
• Pre-trial custody credit
• Probation conditions
• Ancillary orders (firearms, dna)

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R. v. Zock

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

Trial counsel elected a judge-alone trial without obtaining informed instructions from the appellant; the appellant proved on a balance of probabilities he was never informed of his right to a jury and would likely have chosen one; the deprivation amounted to a miscarriage of justice; conviction set aside and new trial ordered before a judge and jury. The separate ground that the verdict was unreasonable was rejected.

Source excerpt

• Ineffective assistance of counsel
• Mode of trial
• Right to jury
• Sexual assault
• Consent
• Intoxication

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Workers’ Compensation Board v. Ramsay

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed WCB’s subrogated battery claim against Phillip Gilmore Ramsay, finding the plaintiff failed to prove liability.

• Battery
• Subrogation
• Consent
• Self-defence
• Intoxication/automatism
• Adverse inference

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R. v. Sorensen

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Mid-trial ruling allowing the Crown to call rebuttal evidence from Hugh Edmundson on intoxication, how the parties met, and related credibility issues.

• Rebuttal evidence
• Credibility
• Collateral evidence
• Case-splitting
• Intoxication
• Rebuttal-evidence

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