Court File and Parties

Court of Appeal for Ontario Date: 20240223 Docket: COA-23-CR-0166

Fairburn A.C.J.O., Rouleau and Trotter JJ.A.

Between

His Majesty the King Respondent

and

Matthew Lewis Appellant

Counsel: Matthew Lewis, acting in person Nathan Gorham, appearing as duty counsel Erica Whitford, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: February 7, 2024

On appeal from the convictions entered by Justice Janet O’Brien of the Ontario Court of Justice, dated May 24, 2022.

Reasons for Decision

[1] This is an appeal from conviction for obstruct justice, uttering death threats and two counts of breach of recognizance. The appellant was said to have threatened a co-accused on an unrelated matter. He was said to have offered the co-accused $500 to retract a police statement the co-accused had previously given on the unrelated count – one that was incriminating relevant to both the appellant and co-accused.

[2] The appellant argues that the trial judge erred in her reasons by: (1) misapprehending the victim’s motive to lie; (2) approaching the defence evidence in a piecemeal manner within the context of a motive to fabricate and an inadequate police investigation; and (3) misapprehending the evidence of defence witnesses. Respectfully, these grounds of appeal reflect an effort to relitigate a straightforward case that turned on credibility. We see no error in the trial judge’s approach to credibility.

[3] The trial judge’s reference to the fact that the defence witnesses could have come forward with their exculpatory version of events on an earlier occasion is without error. That observation accords with the evidentiary record. Moreover, this is not the only basis for the trial judge rejecting their evidence. The reasons also included reference to the fact that they gave evasive evidence and would not accept even reasonable propositions.

[4] Moreover, we see no error in the trial judge’s observation that the victim would not benefit from concocting the events that resulted in this conviction. There was no evidence to support that theory in this case, and no evidence from which such an inference could be drawn. The trial judge carefully considered all of the evidence and came to credibility determinations that were explained and were available on this record.

[5] The conviction appeal is dismissed. The sentence appeal is dismissed as abandoned.

“Fairburn A.C.J.O.”

“Paul Rouleau J.A.”

“G.T. Trotter J.A.”