On March 1, the Manitoba Court of Appeal released its decision in R. v. Moquin, 2010 MBCA 22. In doing so, the Court of Appeal visited how to properly distinguish between the crime of “assault” (s. 265 of the Criminal Code) and the crime of “assault causing bodily harm” (under s. 267(b) of the Criminal [...]

Friday’s equivocal Supreme Court decision in R. v. Nasogaluak (2010 SCC 6) can be viewed both as upholding mandatory minimum sentences and as “a noteworthy chink in the previously impenetrable wall” of mandatory minimums. The Court held that, despite conclusive evidence of a Charter violation emanating from police violence, the sentencing judge had no discretion [...]

On December 17 of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in R. v. Dudley, 2009 SCC 58, which dealt with some of the finer points of criminal procedure; specifically, in the case of “hybrid” or “dual procedure” offences, whether the Crown’s invalid election to proceed summarily outside of the limitation period voids [...]

If the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab doesn’t ring a bell, you might know him better as the “Christmas Day bomber”. On December 25, Abdulmutallab managed to avoid the “rigorous” airline security in Amsterdam and boarded Flight 253 heading to Detroit with explosives strapped to his underwear. As Flight 253 began its descent towards Detroit, Abdulmutallab [...]

In accepting the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s 2009 G. Arthur Martin Medal, Justice Marc Rosenberg observed Parliament’s increasingly punitive approach to sentencing demonstrated by, in part, “the narrowing, almost to the vanishing point, [of] the circumstances in which a conditional sentence can be imposed”. Bill C-9 came into force in December 2007 and effected this “narrowing” [...]

Introduction
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in R. v. Legare, 2009 SCC 56 finally gives true efficacy to Parliament’s Bill C-22 and the Criminal Code amendment to combat child luring. By denying the defense that there had been no intention to commit the underlying offence and by prosecuting any facilitative behaviour, s. 172.1 fortunately and finally [...]

(I) The Sanctity of Informer Privilege
“Informer Privilege” or “Informant Privilege”—the protection of the identity of a confidential informant—is one of the most prohibitive and absolute privileges in the Canadian legal system. The Supreme Court of Canada reiterated its importance last week by unanimously overturning both lower court decisions in R. v. Basi, 2009 SCC 52. [...]

On Friday, the Supreme Court released judgment in the malicious prosecution case Miazga v. Kvello Estate, 2009 SCC 51, long-awaited by the parties involved as final resolution to the bizarre and heartbreaking judicial saga once termed Saskatchewan’s “Scandal of the Century”. The decision is also much-anticipated by my fellow editors at TheCourt.ca, who have previously [...]

On October 29, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision to deny leave to appeal in R. v. Delaa, [2009] A.J. No. 493, a case concerning the admissibility of covertly obtained “castoff” DNA evidence under the section 8 Charter protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
Two violent sexual assaults occurred in Calgary in September 2003 [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada has recently announced it will hear Craig Bartholomew Legare v. Her Majesty the Queen on October 15, a week from today. The case concerns a 32 year old male who was charged with luring a child by means of a computer system and of an invitation to sexual touching. The [...]