Court of Appeal for Ontario

CITATION: R. v. Alvin, 2015 ONCA 252

DATE: 20150414

DOCKET: C57247

Hoy A.C.J.O., Feldman and Rouleau JJ.A.

BETWEEN

Her Majesty the Queen

Respondent

and

Isaiah Andrell Alvin

Appellant

Robin K. McKechney, for the appellant

Jason Wakely, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: March 17, 2015

On appeal from the conviction entered by Justice Guy F. DeMarco of the Ontario Court of Justice, dated June 20, 2013.

ENDORSEMENT

[1] The trial judge concluded that the failure of the officer preparing the information to obtain to disclose the criminal record of a confidential informant breached s. 8 of the Charter. However, the breach fell at the less serious end of the continuum on the first branch of the Grant inquiry and, balancing all the Grant factors, the trial judge admitted the evidence in issue.

[2] The appellant argues that the trial judge erred in concluding that the failure to disclose the confidential informant’s criminal record fell at the less serious end of the continuum on the first branch of the Grant inquiry. He also argues that the trial judge misapprehended the evidence because he did not highlight inconsistencies in the surveillance evidence relied on to confirm the information provided by the confidential informant.

[3] We see no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s decision. He accepted that the officer who prepared the information to obtain was motivated by the belief that it was necessary not to provide disclosure of the confidential informant’s criminal record to preserve the anonymity of the informant. It is apparent from the record that the trial judge assumed the informant had a criminal record. The trial judge found that there was nothing misleading on the question of credibility of the informant and that the applying officer did not exaggerate the information on which he relied. And while there were inconsistencies in the surveillance evidence, both versions describe activities consistent with drug transactions.

[4] This appeal is accordingly dismissed.

“Alexandra Hoy A.C.J.O.”

“K. Feldman J.A.”

“Paul Rouleau J.A.”