Court of Appeal for Ontario

Citation: R. v. Boisclair, 2010 ONCA 338

Date: 20100507

Docket: C49388

Before: Doherty, Juriansz and Karakatsanis JJ.A.

Between:

Her Majesty the Queen

Respondent

and

Andre Boisclair

Appellant

Counsel:

Ronald G. Guertin, for the appellant

Michael Bernstein, for the respondent

Heard: May 7, 2010

On appeal from the conviction entered by Justice R.J. Kealey of the Superior Court of Justice on August 15, 2008 and the sentence imposed dated August 15, 2008.

APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT

[1] There are no merits to the procedural complaint. Although the trial judge started off on the wrong foot in the contempt proceedings, he was quickly brought back to the correct procedure by the submission of appellant’s counsel. The procedure followed was fair and appropriate.

[2] The trial judge summarily disposed of the duress argument in the first paragraph of his reasons (p. 35, August 15, 2008 reasons). He found the defence had no merit as there was no evidence that the appellant had gone to the police or sought their protection for himself and his family. Consequently, there was no evidence that he attempted to pursue the “obvious safe avenue of escape” as required under the leading authorities.

[3] The sentence was fit: see the comments in R. v. Yegin, [2010] ONCA 238. If anything, this case was worse than Yegin given the trial judge’s finding that the appellant’s refusal to testify impacted on her ability to properly try the first degree murder charge on its merits.

[4] The appeals are dismissed.