David Friesen

The Crown applied for a review of a second bail judge's decision to release the accused, who was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy.

The second bail judge had found a material change in circumstances based on new evidence regarding the identity of a purchaser of GPS trackers and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Court of Appeal allowed the Crown's application, finding that the second bail judge made a palpable and overriding error in assessing the strength of the Crown's case and erred in law by treating the pandemic as an automatic material change without considering it in the context of the first bail judge's findings.

The accused was ordered detained pending trial.

The Crown appealed the acquittal of the respondent on a fraud charge, arguing the trial judge erred in his approach to the mens rea for fraud.

The respondent had lied about progress and used funds for other projects due to cash flow issues, believing he could resolve the situation.

The Court of Appeal reaffirmed that a "sanguine belief" does not negate the mens rea for fraud, which requires subjective knowledge of the prohibited act and the risk of deprivation.

The court found the trial judge erred in law and that the Crown was not advancing a new theory of guilt.

The appeal was allowed, and a new trial was ordered, as the trial judge's factual findings were insufficient to substitute a conviction.

David Holden was found guilty of fraud exceeding $54 million and money laundering in a large-scale Ponzi scheme.

This decision outlines the sentencing, which includes 12 years imprisonment for fraud (concurrent with 8 years for money laundering), a restitution order, and a fine in lieu of forfeiture of $54,159,737, with a default imprisonment of 5 years consecutive.

The court emphasized denunciation, general deterrence, and separation due to the egregious nature of the fraud, its devastating impact on 65 victims, and Holden's significant prior record of similar offences and lack of remorse.

The Crown sought to introduce historical text messages sent by the accused to his wife, which were obtained by police pursuant to a valid general warrant.

The accused sought to exclude the messages on the basis of spousal privilege under s. 4(3) of the Canada Evidence Act and s. 189(6) of the Criminal Code.

The court dismissed the application, holding that spousal privilege is a testimonial privilege that protects a spouse from being compelled to testify, but does not render the communications themselves inadmissible when independently and lawfully obtained by police.

The accused was tried on charges of fraud over $5,000 and money laundering arising from his operation of two investment companies.

The Crown alleged the accused ran a Ponzi scheme, soliciting funds from investors under the guise of short-term commercial loans while actually using the money to pay earlier investors, cover operating costs, and enrich himself.

The court found that the accused intentionally deceived investors about the nature, purpose, and security of their investments.

The accused was found guilty on both counts, with the court concluding he orchestrated an overarching fraudulent scheme that deprived investors of over $54 million.

The appellant was acquitted of conspiracy to commit human smuggling but convicted of two counts of manslaughter by criminal negligence arising from an incident where he transported three Indian nationals on a Sea-Doo across the St. Lawrence River without life jackets, resulting in the capsizing of the vessel and the deaths of two passengers.

The Federal Crown appealed the acquittal on the conspiracy charge, arguing the trial judge erred in excluding the accused's statement and the surviving passenger's hearsay statements.

The accused appealed his convictions, arguing the trial judge misstated the mens rea test and failed to consider all relevant circumstances.

The Court of Appeal dismissed both appeals.

The appellant was convicted of fraud in excess of $5,000 following an 11-day judge-alone trial and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The fraud involved the negotiation of a stolen and forged TD Canada Trust bank draft in the amount of $1,895,751, which was deposited into a lawyer's trust account and used to purchase gold bars.

The appellant's role was to coordinate with an unidentified person inside the TD branch who facilitated the fraud.

The appellant appealed both conviction and sentence.

Appeal from a conviction for sexual assault.

The appellant claimed his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance, arguing counsel failed to provide disclosure, failed to prepare him to testify, failed to obtain medical and phone records, and failed to confront the complainant with DNA evidence and inconsistent statements.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that trial counsel's conduct fell within the range of reasonable professional assistance and that there was no miscarriage of justice.

The trial judge's credibility findings were based on the appellant's implausible evidence and were supported by the record.

The appellant appealed his conviction on multiple charges of sexual assault, non-sexual assault, and threatening with sexual violence.

The appellant and complainant had been in a relationship from 2002 to 2009.

The complainant alleged multiple incidents of sexual assault involving demands for anal intercourse and vaginal fisting, which the appellant claimed were consensual.

After a six-day jury trial, the appellant was found not guilty on one sexual assault charge but guilty on all other charges and sentenced to 4.5 years in custody.

The appeal raised issues of trial fairness regarding Crown counsel's improper cross-examination about the complainant's attractiveness and the appellant's sex drive, Crown counsel's closing address, and the trial judge's charge to the jury.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

The Crown appealed a Summary Conviction Appeal Judge's decision that allowed the respondent's appeal from conviction for impaired care or control of a motor vehicle under section 258(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.

The respondent was found passed out in the driver's seat of a running vehicle with the engine on and seatbelt fastened.

He had consumed significant alcohol and provided breath samples showing readings of 210 and 200 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The trial judge rejected the respondent's evidence that he had no intention to drive.

The Court of Appeal found that the Summary Conviction Appeal Judge erred in characterizing the trial judge's findings as palpable and overriding errors and restored the original convictions.

The Crown appealed the acquittal of the respondent on a charge of driving with a blood alcohol level over 80 mg per 100 ml of blood.

The trial judge found that the constable's demand for a breath sample violated section 8 of the Charter because the constable had not followed three procedures in the OPP manual for the Drager Alcotest 6810 device, and therefore could not have reasonably believed the device was functioning properly.

The trial judge excluded the breath samples under section 24(2) of the Charter.

The summary conviction appeal court upheld the acquittal.

The Court of Appeal allowed the Crown's appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in concluding there was no objective basis for the constable's belief that the device was functioning properly, and that the trial judge erred in excluding the evidence under section 24(2).

The appellant appealed his conviction on multiple fraud and uttering forged document counts, as well as his sentence.

The trial judge found that the appellant had defrauded multiple complainants of over half a million dollars by providing them with forged Bank of Montreal term investment certificates.

The appellant, who was self-represented at trial, raised four grounds of appeal: (1) the trial judge erred in amending the information to include additional complainants; (2) the trial judge erred in applying cross-count reasoning; (3) the trial judge erred in refusing an adjournment request; and (4) the trial judge erred in curtailing cross-examination of a witness.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds of appeal and upheld both the conviction and sentence.

The appellant, a lawyer, appealed his conviction for fraud in the amount of approximately $1.9 million and his sentence of three and one-half years imprisonment.

The central issue on the conviction appeal was whether the appellant knew that his purported client did not exist.

The trial judge found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the appellant was a knowing participant in the fraudulent scheme.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, finding no reversal of the burden of proof and that the inferences drawn by the trial judge were reasonably available on the evidence.

The sentence appeal was also dismissed, with the court finding that the additional six months imposed on the appellant compared to his co-accused was justified by his status as a lawyer and the aggravating role that status played in the commission of the offence.

The applicant sought a review of a bail judge's decision denying bail pending appeal of his conviction for two counts of sexual interference and two counts of sexual assault against his minor daughters.

The applicant argued the bail judge erred in applying the public confidence test from R. v. Oland and that her decision was clearly unwarranted.

The Chief Justice dismissed the application, finding no material errors of fact or law and that the bail judge's assessment of the seriousness of the offences, the merits of the appeal, and the likelihood of parole were all reasonable and entitled to deference.

The appellant appealed his convictions for two counts of fraud over $5,000 and two counts of uttering a forged document, arising from his cashing of two stolen bank drafts totalling $847,000 at Ontario casinos in October 2012.

The appellant claimed he received the drafts from a gambler named "Pasquale" as repayment of a loan and did not know they were stolen.

The trial judge rejected this explanation as incapable of belief and applied the doctrine of recent possession to find the appellant guilty.

The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions, rejecting three grounds of appeal: that the trial judge erred in rejecting the defence of honest but mistaken belief, that the trial judge misapprehended the doctrine of recent possession, and that the trial judge improperly relied on the appellant's exculpatory police statement.

The appellant appealed his conviction for breaking and entering into a dwelling house contrary to s. 348(1)(b) of the Criminal Code.

The trial judge convicted the appellant based on fingerprint evidence linking him to a theft of over $4,000 from a condominium unit where he worked as a concierge.

The appellant raised three grounds of appeal: (1) the reliability of the fingerprint evidence; (2) a violation of s. 11(b) Charter rights regarding trial delay; and (3) a violation of s. 7 Charter rights regarding the failure to preserve video evidence.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds and upheld the conviction.

The appellant appealed his sentence of 9 years less 18 months pre-sentence custody for aggravated assault with a weapon.

He argued that the sentencing judge erred in failing to consider whether intent to kill was the only available inference and that the sentencing judge failed to apply the principle of proportionality given the mitigating factors.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the sentencing judge carefully balanced the mitigating and aggravating factors and was entitled to consider the appellant's intent to kill as a seriously aggravating factor.

The sentence was found to be fit in the circumstances.

The accused, a Royal Canadian Mint employee of seven years, was convicted after trial of stealing gold from the Mint, conveying gold out of the Mint, possessing property obtained by crime, money laundering, and breach of public trust.

Over approximately five months, the accused stole 22 gold pucks by exploiting security gaps, including camera blind spots and weaknesses in metal detection systems.

He sold 18 pucks to a gold buyer for $130,206.19 and retained four pucks in a safety deposit box.

The stolen gold had a market value between $206,813.93 and $236,358.77.

The accused transferred proceeds to purchase property in Jamaica and a boat in the United States, and made cash withdrawals.

The court applied the Kienapple principle to stay convictions for theft and possession of property obtained by crime as they shared the same factual and legal nexus with the conveying gold conviction.

The court sentenced the accused to 30 months imprisonment concurrent on three counts, imposed a restitution order of $191,040.96, a fine in lieu of forfeiture of $190,000 with a 30-month consecutive imprisonment term if unpaid, ordered DNA analysis and registration, and imposed a victim fine surcharge of $600.

The appellant appealed his convictions for dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.

He argued that the trial judge misapprehended material evidence regarding circumstantial identification and that the verdict was unreasonable.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no material misapprehensions of evidence and concluding that a properly instructed jury could have found the appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on the totality of the evidence.

The appellant was convicted of sexual assault after engaging in sexual intercourse with the sleeping complainant.

He appealed his conviction and sentence, arguing the trial judge erred in her credibility analysis, misapplied the W.(D.) framework, and misinterpreted forensic evidence.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the trial judge's credibility analysis was reasonable, she properly applied W.(D.) without shifting the burden of proof, and the forensic evidence was neutral.

The 30-month sentence was upheld as fit.