The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the Crown’s appeal from acquittals, finding no error of law in the trial judge’s credibility, reliability, or reasonable-doubt analysis.
The court excluded both intercepted calls: Intercept #9 was inadmissible as an admission (no clear adoption and overwhelming prejudicial hearsay) and, despite some circumstantial probative value as after-the-fact conduct, its probative value was substantially outweighed by prejudicial effect; Intercept #1224 was inadmissible because the contested statements were ambiguous, of at best nominal probative value, and their prejudicial effect (including highlighting custody and implicating the right to silence) outweighed any utility.