Kathryn A. Fillier

The Applicant, Zhong Zhang, faced charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking fentanyl and cocaine.

He brought three Charter applications: a Section 11(b) application for unreasonable delay, a Section 8 Garofoli challenge to judicial authorizations, and a Section 7 application alleging a failure by the affiant to make notes.

The court dismissed the 11(b) application, finding the delay was attributable to the defence's late and voluminous filings.

For the Section 8 challenge, the court, applying R. v. Maric, limited the Applicant's standing to only two December 29 ITOs where he had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and found no Section 8 violation as the affiant made full, frank, and fair disclosure.

The Section 7 application was also dismissed, as the court found the affiant complied with note-taking duties and no Charter breach was established.

All applications were dismissed.

Armen Avansi pleaded guilty to child abduction and disobeying a court order after taking his nearly three-year-old son to Armenia for over two years, violating a parenting order.

The court considered aggravating factors, including the child's young age, the prolonged ordeal, the breach of a court order, and the significant emotional and financial impact on the victim and her family.

Mitigating factors included the guilty plea and no prior criminal record.

The court imposed a sentence of two years less a day of real incarceration, emphasizing general deterrence and denunciation for child abduction cases, and ordered restitution for specific expenses.

Shamar Brown was convicted of drug trafficking and gun possession, including a loaded handgun with an over-capacity magazine, cocaine, Oxycontin, and Xanax for trafficking.

He had an extensive criminal record with multiple firearm convictions and was on federal parole and subject to firearm prohibitions at the time of arrest.

The Crown sought a 10-year sentence, while the defence argued for a 7-7.5 year sentence, reduced to 4.5 years due to harsh custody conditions and a Charter breach.

The court imposed a total sentence of 10 years, applying 1.5:1 credit for pre-trial custody, resulting in 8 years, 5 months, and 15 days remaining to serve.

The court considered aggravating factors such as his criminal history and public threat, and limited mitigating factors, while dismissing the anti-Black racism argument due to lack of specific evidence.

This ruling addresses a Charter application under s. 10(b) and s. 24(2) by two accused seeking to exclude evidence (a firearm and drugs) due to alleged breaches of their right to counsel.

The Crown conceded a s. 10(b) breach occurred due to a communication breakdown between police forces, resulting in a delay of 1 hour 15 minutes for one applicant and 1 hour 45 minutes for the other to speak with counsel.

The court found the Toronto Police Service acted professionally, but the Durham Regional Police Service failed in their duty to facilitate access to counsel at the booking stage.

Applying the R. v. Grant factors, the court characterized the breach as serious but not systemic, found the impact on the applicants moderate, and society's interest in adjudication on the merits high given the serious nature of the charges (firearm and large quantity of drugs).

The application for exclusion of evidence was dismissed.

The defendant was charged with driving with excess blood alcohol.

The trial focused on the admissibility of the Certificate of a Qualified Breath Technician.

The court found that the Crown failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the defendant was served with a copy of the Certificate prior to release.

Furthermore, the email notice provided to defence counsel 14 days before trial was deemed insufficient, as Section 320.32 of the Criminal Code requires a minimum of 61 days' notice.

As the Certificate was the only evidence of blood alcohol concentration, its inadmissibility led to an acquittal.