The appellant pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault against his teenage nieces and received a global sentence of eight years, which exceeded the Crown's proposed range of four to six years.
The majority held that the Anthony-Cook public interest test for joint submissions does not extend to contested sentencing hearings following a guilty plea, as contested sentencings do not offer the same degree of certainty and efficiency.
The majority further held that a sentencing judge's failure to provide notice and an opportunity for further submissions before exceeding the Crown's range is an error in principle, not a breach of procedural fairness, warranting appellate intervention only where the error had an impact on the sentence.
The majority dismissed the appeal, finding no demonstrated impact and no error in the sentencing judge's reasons.
Karakatsanis and Côté JJ. dissented, finding the failure to provide notice constituted a breach of procedural fairness, an independent right that does not require proof of actual prejudice, and would have allowed the appeal and remitted the matter to the Court of Appeal for sentencing afresh.
