Anik Morrow

The Crown brought a dangerous offender application against the offender following his convictions for aggravated assault and related offences.

The offender had a lengthy criminal record and a severe substance use disorder.

The court reviewed extensive psychiatric and psychological evidence, including risk assessments using the PCL-R, VRAG, and HCR-20.

The court found that the predicate offence was reactive rather than instrumental, and therefore did not form part of a pattern of persistent aggressive behaviour required for a dangerous offender designation.

However, the court found the offender met the criteria for a long-term offender designation.

The offender was sentenced to a further 12 months in custody followed by a 6.5-year long-term supervision order.

The Crown sought to qualify Dr. Mark Pearce as an expert forensic psychiatrist to provide opinion evidence on the respondent's risk of offending or reoffending in a dangerous offender proceeding.

The court conducted a voir dire, examining Dr. Pearce's extensive qualifications, training, and experience, including his specialization in forensic psychiatry and use of actuarial instruments for recidivism risk assessment.

The respondent challenged the scope of expertise.

The court found Dr. Pearce highly qualified and accepted him as an expert in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders in both clinical and forensic contexts, specifically qualified to opine on the respondent's risk of offending or reoffending.

The Crown applied to have the offender designated a dangerous offender following a conviction for assault with a weapon.

The court reviewed extensive evidence of the offender’s criminal history, including 89 prior convictions and numerous violent offences demonstrating a persistent pattern of aggressive and repetitive violent behaviour.

Psychological assessments placed the offender in high‑risk categories for violent recidivism but indicated potential manageability through intensive supervision and treatment in the community.

The court concluded the statutory criteria for dangerous offender designation under ss. 752 and 753 of the Criminal Code were met.

However, satisfied that long‑term supervision could adequately protect the public, the court imposed a two‑year sentence (time served) together with a ten‑year long‑term supervision order rather than an indeterminate sentence.

The defendant, a long-term offender subject to a long-term supervision order (LTSO) requiring him to remain within the City of Toronto, was charged with breaching the conditions of his release by being found outside Toronto in Pickering.

The Crown alleged the defendant knowingly violated the territorial restriction.

The defendant testified that he was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his common-law spouse, who became lost while searching for a significant home and inadvertently crossed the Toronto boundary.

The court found the defendant not guilty, holding that being a passenger who took no action to place himself outside the city, and ending up in Pickering as an accident, constituted a reasonable excuse under section 753.3(1) of the Criminal Code.