Jessyca Nicole Greenwood

Dallas Ly was found guilty of second-degree murder of his mother.

This ruling determines his parole ineligibility period.

The court considered the nature of the offence, the offender's character, jury recommendations, and sentencing objectives.

Aggravating factors included the brutal domestic homicide, desecration of remains by decapitation, and discarding the body by the roadside.

Mitigating factors included no prior criminal record, undiagnosed mental health issues, and rehabilitation potential.

The court set the parole ineligibility period at 13 years, along with a lifetime weapons prohibition and DNA order.

Shelly-Ann James was charged with second-degree murder for the stabbing death of her mother.

The trial, heard without a jury, focused on whether Ms. James was Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) due to a mental disorder, specifically if her illness rendered her incapable of knowing her conduct was morally wrong.

The court heard evidence of Ms. James's long history of schizophrenia, marked by delusions, disorganized thinking, and paranoia, including a fixed belief in an entity called "Jigsaw" and fears of being harmed or surveilled.

While expert opinions diverged on her capacity for moral wrongfulness, the court found no rational or reality-based motive for the killing.

Instead, it concluded that Ms. James acted in response to a delusional belief that she and her children were in danger.

The court accepted the opinion that her extensive symptom burden at the time of the killing prevented her from assessing the moral wrongfulness of her actions against societal norms.

Consequently, Ms. James was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder.

This ruling addresses the admissibility of text messages extracted from the accused's cell phone during a first-degree murder trial.

The defence argued the texts were irrelevant and constituted impermissible disposition evidence.

The Crown sought to admit them to corroborate the credibility and reliability of statements made by the accused to undercover officers, particularly regarding his lifestyle and interests.

The court found the majority of the texts relevant for supporting the officers' testimony, concluding their probative value outweighed their prejudicial effect.

However, the court excluded texts referring to violent consensual sex, masturbation, and a nude photograph, deeming them either too prejudicial or irrelevant.

The accused, Kalen Schlatter, applied for an order declaring his right to silence under s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was infringed by statements made to Toronto Police Services undercover officers placed in cells adjacent to his upon arrest, and to exclude these statements under s. 24(2) of the Charter.

The court reviewed the police conduct, including the decision not to record the interaction surreptitiously without judicial authorization, and the nature of the conversation between the accused and the undercover officers.

The court found that the police did not actively elicit the statement in a manner akin to interrogation and that the accused had not met the onus of establishing a Charter violation.

The application was dismissed.

The Crown sought to admit evidence of the accused's prior discreditable conduct, including violent sexual images, search terms, and viva voce evidence of consensual choking sex, in a first-degree murder trial.

The defence intended to assert an alternate suspect (James Gardiner) and an inadequate police investigation defence.

The court ruled that the discreditable conduct evidence was not admissible generally, as its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value, not being sufficiently distinctive to constitute a signature.

However, the evidence would become admissible if the defence adduced evidence of the alternate suspect's bad character or raised an inadequate investigation/tunnel vision defence, to prevent a distorted picture for the jury.

Certain highly prejudicial evidence, such as a specific video, would need to be excised or altered if admitted.

A nineteen-year-old first-time offender pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery but admitted to six knifepoint robberies of young women committed over a two-month period in winter 2013-2014.

The offender drove the getaway vehicle while his co-accused committed the robberies.

The Crown sought eighteen months to two years less a day imprisonment, while the defence sought six to nine months with potential credit for pre-sentence custody and bail conditions.

The court imposed ninety days intermittent imprisonment on each count, three years probation with strict conditions, 240 hours community service, and an increased victim surcharge of $8,000, balancing denunciation and deterrence with rehabilitation prospects for a youthful first offender with no prior record.