Misha Alexander Feldmann

The accused was acquitted at trial of two counts of sexual assault.

The Court of Appeal set aside the acquittals and ordered a new trial, finding the trial judge erred in law by taking a piecemeal approach to the evidence.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal and restored the acquittals, holding that the trial judge did not fail to consider the evidence as a whole.

The Court clarified that a trial judge's assessment of evidence only constitutes an error of law allowing a Crown appeal from an acquittal in limited circumstances, such as when a reasonable doubt is tainted by a legal error.

The appellant appealed a finding of not criminally responsible (NCR) on account of mental disorder.

He argued that the trial judge improperly reversed the onus of proof and provided inadequate reasons.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the trial judge correctly required the Crown to prove the NCR status on a balance of probabilities and that the reasons adequately explained the reliance on unchallenged expert evidence.

The Crown appealed the accused's acquittal on two counts of sexual assault.

The trial judge had found that sexual intercourse occurred but was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that it was without consent, basing this conclusion largely on isolated passages from a poem written by the complainant.

The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge erred in law by failing to consider the poem as a whole and in the context of the complainant's sworn testimony denying consent.

The Crown met its burden of showing the verdict would not necessarily have been the same but for the error.

The appeal was allowed and a new trial ordered.