Laura Liscio

The court sentenced Jaleem Abdella-Smith for second degree murder, following a jury verdict.

The sentencing reasons review the facts of the offence, the circumstances of the offender, the impact on the victim’s family, and the applicable sentencing principles and ranges.

The court imposed a life sentence with 12 years of parole ineligibility, considering the impulsive nature of the shooting, the offender’s youth, lack of criminal record, difficult background, and the particularly harsh conditions of pre-sentence custody.

The decision also addresses the weight of jury recommendations and the importance of denunciation and deterrence in gun violence cases.

The accused, Jason Albert Lowe, was charged with sexual assault against M.D. following an incident on March 8-9, 2022.

The trial turned on the credibility and reliability of the complainant, who gave inconsistent statements regarding consent, the use of a condom, and other details.

The court found that the inconsistencies and lack of corroborative evidence raised a reasonable doubt and acquitted Mr. Lowe.

The accused, Ahnaf Alvee, faced nine charges related to his former girlfriend, C.M., including assault, mischief, theft, sexual assault, and breach of undertaking.

The central issue was credibility.

The court found C.M. to be a credible and reliable witness, while largely rejecting Mr. Alvee's testimony.

Mr. Alvee was acquitted of assault by choking and assault in the lobby, but convicted of mischief (damaged eyeglasses), assault (grabbing cheeks), theft of a cellphone, sexual assault in a stairwell, and three counts of failing to comply with an undertaking.

The accused brought a motion for a stay of proceedings based on an alleged violation of their right to be tried without unreasonable delay under section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The total delay from arrest to anticipated trial completion was approximately 16.5 months, just below the 18-month presumptive ceiling established in R. v. Jordan.

The court found that the accused demonstrated meaningful and sustained efforts to expedite proceedings, that no delay was attributable to the defence, and that the Crown failed to provide timely disclosure.

The court determined that approximately six months of added delay resulted from the Crown's failure to disclose materials that could have been provided within 90-120 days of arrest.

The court granted the stay of all charges.

The defendant was charged with importing cocaine into Canada.

The sole issue at trial was whether the Crown had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew the cans in her luggage contained cocaine.

The court considered circumstantial evidence, including the high value of the cocaine and the defendant's exclusive control over the cans.

The court rejected defence theories as speculative, concluding that the only reasonable inference was that the defendant had knowledge of the cocaine.

The defendant was found guilty as charged.

The accused was charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis for the purposes of trafficking, and possession of proceeds of crime.

A Charter application was brought challenging the lawfulness of the vehicle search and cell phone seizure.

The court found that the initial traffic stop was justified based on unattached licence plates.

However, the subsequent search of the concealed tire-well compartment in the vehicle trunk was found to be an unreasonable search in breach of section 8 of the Charter.

The court concluded that the officers lacked reasonable grounds to arrest prior to discovering the drugs and that the search was not a bona fide inventory search but rather a pretext for a drug investigation.

The evidence was excluded under section 24(2) of the Charter.

This is a decision on committal to trial following a lengthy preliminary inquiry into Project Corral, an investigation by the Integrated Guns and Gangs Task Force into alleged criminal organizations in northwest Toronto.

The Crown sought committal on 71 charges arising from evidence heard at the preliminary inquiry, including charges of trafficking in cocaine, marijuana, firearms and ammunition, conspiracy, counselling, obstruction of justice, and criminal organization offences.

The court analyzed voice identification evidence from intercepted communications, the meaning of coded language used by the accused, and the elements of possession, trafficking, conspiracy, and criminal organization offences.

The court ordered most accused to stand trial on the majority of charges, with some discharges on specific counts.