The appellant appealed a manslaughter conviction arising from a fatal single blow delivered with a wooden board during a late-night confrontation on his porch, arguing that the only reasonable verdict was lawful self-defence under s. 34 of the Criminal Code.
The Court of Appeal held that a properly instructed jury could reasonably conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the force used against a smaller unarmed person was not reasonable in the circumstances, and dismissed the conviction appeal and the related production motion.
On sentence, however, the court found procedural unfairness and error in principle where the sentencing judge treated supposed alternative responses available to the appellant as aggravating factors.
Re-sentencing afresh, the court held that the appellant’s moral blameworthiness was modest, that strong mitigating factors attenuated the gravity of the unlawful killing, and that a conditional sentence of two years less a day followed by three years’ probation was fit and legally available under s. 742.1.
