Ildikó Erdei

The applicant challenged the issuance of a DNA warrant on the grounds that the Information to Obtain contained inaccurate information regarding observations of the applicant engaging in drug trafficking activity and exiting a specific unit.

The court found that two aspects of the ITO should be excised as they were not supported by the original surveillance evidence.

However, the court determined that even with these excisions, there remained sufficient basis to authorize the seizure of the applicant's DNA based on other evidence, including CCTV footage showing the applicant using a fob associated with the unit, observations of the applicant leaving with a suspected drug trafficker, and possession of a key to the unit where a firearm was found.

The application was dismissed.

Three defendants applied for orders staying criminal proceedings on the grounds that their right to be tried within a constitutionally tolerable time had been breached.

The applicable ceiling for Ontario Court of Justice cases is 18 months.

The Crown argued that when defence delay periods were subtracted, the total delay did not exceed the ceiling.

The court found that two applicants' delay did not exceed the 18-month threshold after deducting defence delay caused by their decision to change counsel.

For the third applicant, although the delay exceeded the Jordan guidelines by nine days, the court found exceptional circumstances existed that rebutted the presumption of unreasonable delay.

All three applications were dismissed.

The appellant appealed his conviction for aggravated assault by maiming and his sentence of six years' imprisonment.

He argued there was no evidence of maiming.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the conviction appeal, finding that the complainant's nearly severed toe, which left him permanently without feeling, was sufficient evidence for the jury to convict.

The sentence appeal was also dismissed, as the brutal, premeditated, and prolonged torture justified a sentence near the top end of the range.