Matthew John Richard Asma

The appellant, a lawyer who had power of attorney over a deceased client's affairs, was convicted of theft over $1,000 for failing to notify an insurance company of the client's death and continuing to collect annuity payments.

He appealed the conviction and the dismissal of his pre-trial motion for a stay of proceedings under s. 11(b) of the Charter for unreasonable delay.

The Court of Appeal found that while the application judge erred in attributing certain periods of delay, the total institutional and Crown delay of ten months fell within acceptable limits.

The court also found sufficient evidence to support the trial judge's conclusion that the appellant had the requisite mens rea.

The appeal was dismissed.

The appellant appealed his sentence of 15 months for an armed robbery committed at knife point.

The trial judge had imposed a sentence higher than the Crown's submission and granted only 1-for-1 credit for pre-sentence custody without seeking submissions from counsel.

The Court of Appeal upheld the 15-month sentence but found the trial judge erred in denying 2-for-1 credit without submissions and by improperly considering the appellant's immigration status.

The appeal was allowed to the extent of increasing the pre-sentence custody credit to a 2-for-1 basis.

The appellant pleaded guilty to five counts of robbery and was sentenced to 35 months' imprisonment concurrent on each charge.

He appealed the sentence, seeking a variation to avoid losing his right to appeal a deportation order under s. 64(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which applies to sentences of two years or more for a single offence.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, varying the sentence to 23 months concurrent on four counts and 12 months consecutive on the fifth count, maintaining the global sentence of 35 months while preserving the appellant's right to appeal his deportation.