Letitia Sears

The appellant was convicted of first degree murder for his role in luring the victim to a car lot where he was shot.

At trial, the Crown introduced double hearsay evidence from a co-conspirator and wiretap evidence of a three-way phone call.

The appellant appealed, arguing the co-conspirator's exception to the hearsay rule should be revisited under the principled approach to hearsay, and that the wiretap evidence exceeded the authorization.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the Carter rule for co-conspirator hearsay meets the necessity and reliability requirements of the principled approach.

The Court also upheld the admission of the wiretap evidence, finding the named target never ceased to be a party to the conversation.

The Crown appealed a decision of the Court of Appeal that ordered a new sentencing hearing for the respondent.

The sentencing judge had declared the respondent a dangerous offender and imposed an indeterminate sentence without considering the newly enacted long-term offender provisions.

Applying the companion case of R. v. Johnson, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a sentencing judge must consider the possibility of a long-term offender designation prior to declaring an offender dangerous.

The appeal was dismissed and the order for a new sentencing hearing was confirmed.