Eric H. Siebenmorgen

An appeal under Part XX.1 of the Criminal Code from a disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated February 6, 2018.

The appellant sought a conditional discharge from a detention order, arguing that the proposed conditional discharge terms would provide equivalent public protection.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal but allowed it in part, finding that while the Board's refusal to order a conditional discharge was reasonable and supported by evidence, the Board had erred by failing to remove the 24-hour supervision requirement from the disposition.

The court amended the disposition to remove this phrase, allowing the appellant to continue his transition to less supervised community living.

The appellant appealed the sentence imposed on February 1, 2011 by Justice Gary T. Trotter of the Superior Court of Justice.

On consent, the Court of Appeal for Ontario varied the sentence in one respect only: the credit for presentence custody was reduced from 6 months to 6 months less one day.

The appellant appealed his conviction for second-degree murder and assault, as well as his sentence of life imprisonment with 17 years parole ineligibility.

The appellant sought to introduce fresh psychiatric evidence from Dr. John Bradford concluding that he suffered from severe treatment-resistant schizophrenia at the time of the offence and met the threshold for a not criminally responsible (NCR) defence under Criminal Code section 16.

The Court of Appeal rejected the fresh evidence, finding that while the diagnosis might be credible, Dr. Bradford's conclusion regarding moral wrongfulness was grounded in medical rather than legal definitions.

The court noted that the appellant's conduct before, during, and after the killing, as well as his own statements, were inconsistent with an NCR defence.

The sentence appeal was also dismissed as the 17-year parole ineligibility period was not found to be unfairly imposed or too harsh.

Appeal from conviction for two counts of first degree murder.

The appellant killed two friends and attempted suicide, raising a not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCR) defence.

The trial judge convicted after finding the appellant had the capacity to know that society would regard his actions as morally wrong, despite suffering from a mental disorder.

The appellant raised four grounds of appeal: (1) misinterpretation of "knowing that it was wrong" under s. 16(1) of the Criminal Code; (2) misapprehension of evidence regarding psychotic state; (3) request to recognize diminished responsibility as a partial defence; and (4) request to recognize suicide pact as a partial defence.

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

The appellant, a pediatrician, was convicted at trial of sexual assault following a genital examination of a 15-year-old patient during an initial consultation for attention deficit disorder.

The trial judge found that the appellant did not forewarn the patient of the genital examination and did not palpate the patient's testicles, and concluded the touching was gratuitous and for a sexual purpose.

The Court of Appeal found the trial judge misapprehended material evidence regarding the reliability of the complainant's testimony, the significance of the appellant's contemporaneous medical notes, and the expert evidence regarding the medical necessity and appropriateness of the examination.

The court concluded that on a correct apprehension of the evidence, no reasonable trier of fact could find the appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The appellant appealed his convictions for two counts of assault and one count of sexual assault arising from incidents in a domestic relationship.

The Crown's case relied primarily on the complainant's testimony, which the appellant denied.

The appeal raised three grounds: whether the trial judge erred in failing to instruct the jury on the limited use of prior consistent statements; whether the trial judge erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the defence of mistaken belief in consent; and whether the trial judge erred in refusing to admit evidence of other sexual activity between the appellant and the complainant.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the conviction appeal and the sentence appeal.

The appellant was convicted of second degree murder for shooting and killing Andrew Christie in the doorway of Christie's apartment on December 19, 2004.

Although charged with first degree murder, the jury convicted him of the lesser charge.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with parole ineligibility of 17 years.

On appeal, the appellant challenged the admission of evidence regarding an accomplice's manslaughter conviction, the deceased's ante-mortem statements, and the trial judge's jury instructions on post-offence conduct, self-defence, and provocation.

The appellant also challenged the sentence as unreasonable.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds of appeal, finding no error in the trial judge's evidentiary rulings or jury instructions, and finding the sentence fit.

A criminal appeal considered whether a nearly three-year period between charge and trial infringed the accused’s s. 11(b) Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time.

Applying the new Jordan framework, the majority held the net delay exceeded the 30-month ceiling for superior court matters and was not justified by exceptional or transitional circumstances.

The Court found the matter was relatively straightforward, institutional delay was substantial, and the Crown did not establish reasonableness.

A stay entered by the provincial appellate court was upheld, with dissenting reasons that would have restored the convictions under a different balancing approach.