Nic Rozier

The accused, charged with manslaughter, brought an application for the case management judge to recuse himself.

The accused argued that the judge's prior involvement in administrative decisions to transfer cases out of Brampton due to courtroom shortages created a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The court dismissed the application, finding that the accused failed to provide cogent evidence to overcome the strong presumption of judicial impartiality.

The court noted that the administrative transfer process and the court's commitment to managing resources efficiently would not lead a reasonable, informed person to conclude the judge had a closed mind.

The respondent, facing a first-degree murder charge, subpoenaed a federal Crown counsel who had previously stayed a drug charge against him.

The respondent sought to question the Crown counsel about his reasons for staying the charge to support an abuse of process argument regarding the admission of disreputable conduct evidence.

The Crown counsel brought a certiorari application to quash the subpoena.

The Superior Court held that while the court clerk properly issued the subpoena based on defence counsel's representations, the subpoena must be quashed because the respondent failed to establish that the Crown counsel likely had material evidence to give, as prosecutorial discretion is presumed to be exercised properly absent evidence of bad faith.

The applicant sought a stay of proceedings on drug trafficking charges, alleging that police used excessive force during his arrest while executing a search warrant for firearms.

The applicant claimed repeated kicks to the head and a blow with a shotgun butt, asserting violations of ss. 7 and 12 of the Charter.

The court rejected the applicant’s account as not credible and accepted the officers’ evidence that the applicant resisted arrest in a confined space during a high-risk firearms search.

The court found that the force used to gain control of the applicant was reasonable and that the injury sustained was an unintended consequence of lawful force.

No Charter breach was established and the requested stay was denied.