Her Majesty the Queen v. Owens
[Indexed as: R. v. Owens]
Ontario Reports
Court of Appeal for Ontario,
Laskin, Hourigan and Pardu JJ.A.
September 28, 2015
127 O.R. (3d) 603 | 2015 ONCA 652
Case Summary
Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Counsel — Waiver — Accused informed of his right to counsel upon arrest and indicating that he understood — Accused replying, "No, not right now" when asked if he wanted to call lawyer "now" — Accused not asking to speak to counsel at any point after that — Trial judge finding that accused's rights under s. 10(b) of Charter were not violated as he did not invoke his right to counsel — Appeal judge erring in failing to consider whether trial judge was correct in finding that the accused invoked his right to counsel instead of proceeding directly to whether there was a breach implementing s. 10(b) rights — Issue of waiver of s. 10(b) rights only arising when accused has established on balance of probabilities that he invoked his right to counsel — Whether accused invoked s. 10(b) rights essentially question of fact — Trial judge committing no palpable and overriding error