Douglas C. Hunt

The appellant was charged with arson after a fire destroyed his clothing store.

At the close of the Crown's case, which rested entirely on circumstantial evidence, the trial judge directed a verdict of acquittal, finding the evidence gave rise only to suspicion.

The Court of Appeal set aside the acquittal and ordered a new trial.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the trial judge usurped the function of the jury by weighing the evidence.

Applying the Shephard test, the Court found there was admissible circumstantial evidence relating to motive, opportunity, and contradictions in the appellant's statement that, if believed by a properly instructed jury, could justify a conviction.

The appellant struck a fellow student with a rock after reading a letter in which she referred to him as a 'nothing'.

At trial, he advanced the defence of non-insane automatism, arguing he was in a dissociative state caused by a psychological blow.

The trial judge acquitted him, finding he was not insane and had acted in a state of automatism brought about by an external cause.

The Court of Appeal reversed the acquittal, holding that the psychological blow was not an externally originating cause and that the dissociative state constituted a disease of the mind.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, affirming that the ordinary stresses and disappointments of life do not constitute an external cause, and that the appellant's condition was a disease of the mind.