Search judgments by proposition, citation, court, judge or legal topic, then move directly into the source-grounded case analysis.
Results update automatically as you type.
Canada decisions
Decisions matching the current search
Sentence appeal partly allowed after fresh evidence of harsh custodial conditions. The Court held the original two-year penitentiary term was fit when imposed, but varied its service to a conditional sentence.
Ontario Court of Appeal set aside drug-trafficking convictions and ordered new trials after finding the trial judge erred on s. 8 standing, while upholding the verdict analysis.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Jeson Beljour’s appeal, upholding convictions for fentanyl trafficking, proceeds of crime, and obstruction.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed conviction appeals in a cocaine trafficking case, finding no error in the trial judge’s circumstantial evidence analysis.
The appeals were dismissed because the trial judge reasonably found, on the totality of the circumstantial evidence and permissible inferences from the safe-house context and personal items linking appellants to the residence, that the Crown proved constructive possession beyond a reasonable doubt; there was no misapprehension of evidence nor unreasonable verdict warranting appellate intervention.
Source excerpt
The trial judge did not err in concluding the Crown proved the appellant knew of the hidden fentanyl based on the cumulative circumstantial evidence; the conviction is upheld and the sentence on the fentanyl count is within the judge's discretion; however the sentence on the possession of proceeds of crime count is reduced to the statutory maximum of two years' imprisonment concurrent to the drug sentence.
Source excerpt
On the facts, the trial judge did not usurp the jury's fact‑finding because certificates of analysis were uncontested and the jury was repeatedly told they were sole judges of fact; the order of charges and the wording of the charge did not improperly encourage propensity reasoning given the contextual links between counts, proper instructions on burden and included offences, and absence of objection; the jury was properly instructed about the limited use of text messages as contemporaneous circumstantial evidence and not for propensity; accordingly the convictions are upheld and the appeal i…
Source excerpt
The Court held the verdicts were reconcilable because the evidence supporting possession of the cash was materially stronger and distinct from the evidence on the cocaine; the trial judge reasonably found the circumstantial evidence excluded any reasonable alternative to guilt on the proceeds count and thus did not commit a Villaroman error; and the trial judge properly considered collateral immigration consequences and imposed a sentence within the acceptable range.
Source excerpt
The Court held that the trial judge reasonably concluded that, given the backpack containing fentanyl in the trunk, the hotel key card and clothes in the backpack, the significant monetary value of the drugs, and the absence of any exculpatory explanation, constructive possession was the only reasonable inference and the guilty verdict was not unreasonable.
Source excerpt
The Court upheld the convictions because the trial judge reasonably concluded, on the totality of circumstantial evidence, that the only reasonable inference was that the appellant had placed the drugs in the upstairs bathroom and thus constructive possession and possession for trafficking were proven; there was no established misapprehension or reversal of burden; the uncertified photocopy of the recognizance was admissible under the common law public/judicial documents exception given corroborating evidence and lack of substantive authenticity challenge, so any procedural unfairness in admi…
Source excerpt
Explore more
