Canada Case Law

R. v. Usman

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The joint submission of six years' custody is accepted because the proposed sentence falls within the established range for manslaughter in a planned home invasion where the offender did not deliver the fatal blow, is proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the offender's degree of responsibility, and does not meet the high public interest threshold for rejection under Anthony-Cook; credit for 590 days pre-sentence custody is applied at 1.5:1 (885 days), yielding a net custodial term of 1306 days (three years and 211 days).

Source excerpt

• Manslaughter
• Sentencing
• Joint submissions
• Home invasion
• Ancillary orders
• Pre-sentence custody credit

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R. v. Anderson

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Leo Anderson’s conviction and sentence appeals for firearm possession, holding the trial judge’s inference of possession was open on the evidence.

• Possession of firearm
• Evidentiary inference and credibility
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Public safety
• Appellate review of factual findings
• Criminal-law

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R. v. McQuarrie

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Balancing denunciation, deterrence and protection of the public with rehabilitation, the court imposed 8 years 6 months (rounded to 3,100 days) on the robbery conviction, granted a conditional stay on the assault (Kienapple), credited pre-sentence custody at 1.5:1 (948 days served = 1,422 days credit) leaving 1,678 days to be served; imposed DNA sampling authorization, lifetime weapons prohibition and a no-contact order while in custody.

Source excerpt

• Robbery
• Assault with a weapon
• Kienapple principle (conditional stay)
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Victim vulnerability
• Weapons prohibition

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R. v. MacKay

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

Ontario Court of Appeal upheld convictions for sexual offences and dismissed most sentence concerns, reducing the global sentence by four months on two counts.

• Sexual assault
• Similar fact evidence
• Collusion
• Credibility of complainants
• Sentence totality
• Lack of remorse

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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…

Source excerpt

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

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R. v. Kleiman

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Appellate intervention was unwarranted: the sentencing judge committed no error in principle that affected the sentence and the global sentence was not demonstrably unfit. The judge lawfully balanced mitigation (including disability and pre-sentence segregation) and aggravation (criminal record and severe victim impact), applied appropriate concurrency and enhanced pre-sentence credit, and lawfully imposed an 18-month probation order; therefore the sentence is upheld.

Source excerpt

• Breach of probation
• Sentencing principles and totality
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Aggravating factors (victim impact)
• Kienapple duplicity principle
• Restorative justice process

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R. v. B.F.-S.

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal sentence but dismissed the appeal, upholding an 11-year-and-3-month global sentence and related ancillary orders.

• Sentencing
• Child sexual abuse
• Child pornography
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Ancillary orders
• Parity

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R. v. Rowe

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court of Appeal upheld a seven-month conditional sentence for firearms offences, rejecting claims for a discharge, fuller Downes credit and error in distinguishing precedent.

• Sentencing
• Conditional sentence
• Discharge
• Weapons offences
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Bail conditions (downes credit)

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R. v. Watts

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court of Appeal for Ontario granted leave to appeal sentence but dismissed the sentence appeal, upholding the sentencing judge’s refusal to give enhanced pre-sentence custody credit.

• Long-term supervision order
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Enhanced credit
• Conditions of detention
• Sentence appeal
• Appellate deference

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R. v. Kipp

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Sentencing reasons in a firearms case where the offender received a two-years-less-one-day conditional sentence, based on Gladue factors and exceptional rehabilitation.

• Firearms offences
• Possession while prohibited
• Conditional sentence order
• Gladue principles
• Sentencing principles
• Pre-sentence custody credit

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