The Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed Adam Chiarelli’s appeal from his conviction for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The court found that the trial judge erred by failing to provide a limiting instruction regarding inadmissible opinion evidence given by police officers about items found in the vehicle being “consistent with drug trafficking.” The court dismissed other grounds of appeal, including the lack of a Vetrovec caution and the reasonableness of the verdict, but concluded the error was not minor and the curative proviso did not apply.
A new trial was ordered.
