This decision provides the reasons for various pre-trial and trial motions in a criminal case where the accused, Alam Buoc, was ultimately convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after a 12-week jury trial.
Key rulings included the refusal to discharge a juror despite pre-trial publicity, the allowance of remote witness testimony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dismissal of a s. 11(b) Charter application for unreasonable delay, with significant delay attributed to the accused's conduct and the pandemic.
The court also admitted hearsay statements under the res gestae exception and detailed the extensive role of amicus curiae in assisting the self-represented accused throughout the complex proceedings, which included a mistrial due to the pandemic.
