The accused, charged with first degree murder, brought a Charter application challenging the validity of a search warrant used to extract data from their Blackberry phones.
They argued the warrant was facially invalid because it referenced the OPP property vault as the place to be searched, contained outdated language permitting searches related to the 'suspected commission' of an offence, and imposed a time limit that allegedly expired before the forensic analysis occurred.
They also argued the warrant did not authorize data extraction and that a later re‑analysis of the data with updated software required a new warrant.
The court held that the warrant, read together with the Information to Obtain and appendix, authorized the search of the phones and their data.
The court further found the time limitation applied only to entry and seizure, not to later forensic analysis, and that the subsequent software‑based re‑analysis constituted a further analysis of lawfully seized data rather than a new search.
