3 total
Appeal allowed; trial judge erred by rejecting joint submission and imposing illegal suspended sentence without probation.
The City of Toronto appealed the sentence imposed by a Justice of the Peace on a corporate retail store and its sole director for operating a non-essential business contrary to the Reopening Ontario Act.
The Justice of the Peace had rejected a joint submission, imposing a suspended sentence without probation on the director and a reduced fine on the corporation.
The appeal court found the Justice of the Peace erred by imposing an illegal sentence (suspended sentence without probation) and by improperly tinkering with the joint submission for the fine.
The appeal was allowed, but at the City's request, the fine remained the same and the charge against the director was stayed.
The court dismissed a section 11(b) Charter application for unreasonable delay in a bylaw prosecution.
The applicant, Andrea Morales, brought an 11(b) Charter motion for a stay of proceedings due to unreasonable delay in a Provincial Offences Act charge for a noise bylaw violation.
The court applied the R. v. Jordan framework, calculating the total delay, subtracting defence-attributable delay and delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as an exceptional circumstance.
The net delay was found to be below the 18-month presumptive ceiling for provincial offence matters.
The court also addressed the applicant's claim regarding lack of disclosure, ruling that the municipal bylaw was a public document not subject to first-party disclosure rules.
The motion was dismissed as the applicant failed to meet the onus of demonstrating unreasonable delay.
Accused convicted of select break and enters where surveillance corroborated circumstantial evidence, but mostly acquitted.
The accused were tried on 35 counts of break and enter and related offences involving commercial establishments across Ontario between May and October 2013.
The Crown relied on physical surveillance, GPS tracking data from a rental vehicle, forensic evidence (paint analysis and tool mark examination), and video evidence.
The trial judge found the accused guilty of attempted break and enter and possession of break-in instruments related to an A&W restaurant incident on October 17, 2013, where they were arrested.
The accused were also convicted of break and enter and possession of property obtained by crime at an Alden Coffee Shop on September 12, 2013 (Edwards only).
The accused were acquitted of the remaining charges, as the Crown failed to prove identity beyond a reasonable doubt despite circumstantial evidence being highly suspicious.
