The accused, charged with first-degree murder of his son, brought an application to exclude a video found on his cell phone.
The police searched the phone incident to arrest without a warrant.
The court found the search violated section 8 of the Charter because there was no urgency to justify searching the phone before obtaining a warrant.
However, applying the Grant framework under section 24(2), the court admitted the evidence, finding the breach was minor, the privacy intrusion was minimal, and the video was highly reliable and crucial to the truth-seeking function of the trial.
The court also dismissed the argument that the video's prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value.
