2 total
Joint submission rejected as unfit in organized LCBO theft sentencing.
Sentencing following guilty pleas to two theft under $5,000 counts arising from coordinated LCBO thefts and one breach of probation count for attending an LCBO contrary to an existing order.
The court rejected a joint submission for 90 days' custody, holding that asserted deportation consequences were either not legally mitigating for an accused without status, not proven on the record, or incapable of justifying a disproportionate sentence.
Applying the Anthony-Cook framework, the court found the proposed sentence demonstrably unfit and unredeemed by any countervailing public-interest consideration.
A sentence of 12 months concurrent on the theft counts and 60 days concurrent on the probation breach was imposed.
Stay denied despite Charter breaches from delayed post-arrest attendance before a justice.
In a criminal Charter motion, the accused sought a stay of proceedings after being arrested on an outstanding warrant and not being brought before the issuing jurisdiction for approximately three months.
Interpreting Criminal Code ss. 514, 511(4), 511(1)(c), and 503(1), the court held that the warrant was executed upon arrest and that police were required to bring the accused before a justice without unreasonable delay.
The court rejected the Crown’s position that execution occurred only at the later Hamilton bail appearance and found breaches of ss. 7 and 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Applying the stay framework in Regan and Babos, the court found no demonstrated prejudice to trial fairness or to the integrity of the justice system in the specific circumstances, including parallel lawful detention on other charges.
The application for a stay was therefore dismissed.
