Marc Halfyard

The appellant appealed his convictions for three counts of sexual assault against his former partner's 15-year-old daughter.

On appeal, he argued that the verdict was unreasonable, the trial judge improperly curtailed cross-examination regarding the complainant's psychiatric diagnoses, the trial judge's reasons created a reasonable apprehension of bias due to harsh comments about the defence and the appellant's nationality, and the trial judge misapprehended evidence regarding the complainant's suicide attempts.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the appeal, finding the verdict was reasonable, the curtailment of cross-examination was a harmless error, the trial judge's comments did not create a reasonable apprehension of bias despite being inappropriate in parts, and there was no material misapprehension of evidence.

The appellant appealed his conviction for impaired operation, arguing the trial judge erred in dismissing his s. 11(b) Charter application for unreasonable delay.

The appeal court found the trial judge miscalculated the institutional delay and erred in characterizing delay caused by the Crown's failure to notify its witness as neutral and institutional rather than Crown delay.

After recalculating the delay to 11 months and 26 days and finding specific prejudice to the appellant, the court concluded the delay was unreasonable.

The appeal was allowed, the conviction quashed, and the proceedings stayed.