Jeffrey Ray

This criminal appeal considered the mens rea element for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

The trial judge had entered acquittals after concluding the required fault standard was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The appellate court set aside those acquittals and ordered a new trial.

The Court held that the trial reasoning failed to assess the accused's driving conduct against the full evidentiary record to determine marked departure from the objective standard of care.

The appeal was dismissed, with two justices dissenting.

The Court held that issue estoppel in a prior jury matter applies only when a finding in favour of the accused was logically necessary to the acquittal.

Because the acquittals on criminal organization counts could be explained by more than one route, including failure to prove association elements, the Crown was not barred from litigating whether the Hells Angels was a criminal organization in later proceedings.