Catriona Verner

The applicant, convicted of first degree murder and committing an indignity to a human body, applied for the appointment of publicly-funded appellate counsel under s. 684(1) of the Criminal Code.

The Crown conceded the applicant lacked means to retain private counsel.

The court found the applicant had arguable grounds of appeal challenging the trial judge's pre-trial rulings on the admissibility of evidence regarding the applicant's cannibalistic ideation, including statements to a psychiatric nurse and rap lyrics.

The court determined the applicant could not effectively argue the complex appeal without counsel assistance.

The appointment was granted on a limited basis, restricted to addressing the effects of the pre-trial rulings on trial fairness, excluding issues of post-offence conduct and ineffective assistance of counsel.

The Court addressed whether Crown-requested police background checks of prospective jurors were permissible and what disclosure duties followed from that practice.

It held that limited criminal-record checks to assess juror eligibility are permissible, and that relevant information obtained for jury selection must be disclosed to the defence.

Applying the appellate non-disclosure framework, the Court found no reasonable possibility that disclosure failures changed jury composition.

The Court also held the impugned conduct did not meet the threshold for miscarriage of justice based on appearance of unfairness.

The appeals from conviction were dismissed.