Brian R. Graff

Two appellants were convicted by jury of second degree murder for their participation in a group assault in which the victim was beaten and stabbed to death.

The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the convictions, finding no reviewable error in the jury charge and that the verdicts were not unreasonable.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeals substantially for the reasons of the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, agreeing that the jury charge adequately addressed the various paths to liability — including principal and co-principal liability — and that the verdicts were not unreasonable.

The Court added, however, that a finding of unreasonable verdict is itself an error of law justifying appellate intervention, and that an extricable error need not first be identified as a precondition.

The appellant and a co-accused were convicted of second degree murder in a stabbing death of a victim who owed a drug debt.

The trial judge expressly refrained from finding that the appellant personally stabbed the victim, and the subjective mens rea for murder under s. 229(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code was not clearly analyzed.

The Court of Appeal majority erred by making a finding of fact that the trial judge declined to make and by accepting the trial judge's statement of intent as sufficient to support the murder conviction.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal but substituted a verdict of manslaughter, remitting the matter to the trial judge for sentencing.