Paula Rochman

The Crown brought a dangerous offender application following the offender's convictions for robbery with a firearm and related offences.

The offender had a lengthy criminal record and history of institutional violence, alongside diagnoses of complex PTSD and antisocial personality traits.

The court found that while the offender demonstrated a pattern of reactive violence and posed a high risk of violent recidivism, his conduct was not intractable given the possibility of change through long-term, intensive federal programming.

The court dismissed the dangerous offender application, designated the offender a long-term offender, and imposed a 4-year penitentiary sentence followed by a 10-year long-term supervision order.

The accused was arrested for possession of marijuana after police observed him in a confrontation and smelled fresh marijuana emanating from him and his vehicle.

The accused produced a medical marijuana card, which the arresting officer believed to be fake.

Subsequent searches incident to arrest revealed a loaded handgun in the vehicle and cocaine concealed between the accused's buttocks during a strip search at the station.

The accused brought a pre-trial application alleging violations of his s. 8 Charter rights and seeking exclusion of the evidence under s. 24(2).

The court dismissed the application, finding the arrest and searches lawful, and alternatively holding that the evidence would be admissible under s. 24(2) regardless.

The offender was found guilty of bookmaking for the benefit of a criminal organization known as Platinum Sports Book.

The court found the offender held a leadership or management role in the organization, directing other agents.

The Crown sought up to 2 years less a day, while the defence sought a suspended sentence or fine.

The court weighed the aggravating factor of committing an offence for a criminal organization against mitigating factors including a dated criminal record and no evidence of direct profit.

The offender was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.

The applicants, charged with bookmaking and criminal organization offences, brought a pre-trial application challenging the constitutional validity of the gaming and criminal organization provisions of the Criminal Code and related regulations.

They argued that the gaming provisions were ultra vires Parliament's criminal law power, that the regulation deeming gaming offences as 'serious offences' violated section 7 of the Charter due to overbreadth and gross disproportionality, and that the bookmaking prohibition violated freedom of expression and association under section 2 of the Charter.

The court dismissed the application, finding the provisions were a valid exercise of the criminal law power, did not violate the Charter, and in any event, would be saved under section 1.

Accused persons charged with murder brought applications to exclude historical text messages obtained by police through a production order directed to a telecommunications provider.

They argued that s. 487.012 of the Criminal Code did not authorize the production of private communications, or alternatively that the provision violated s. 8 of the Charter.

The court held that stored historical text messages constitute “data” within the meaning of the provision and that obtaining them by production order does not amount to interception of private communications under Part VI.

The statutory prerequisites for a production order satisfied constitutional standards for reasonable search and seizure.

The applications to exclude the evidence were dismissed.

The accused was convicted of multiple offences including committing offences for the benefit of a criminal organization, instructing the commission of offences for a criminal organization, firearms possession and transfer offences, and trafficking in heroin.

The evidence, largely derived from wiretaps and surveillance, established that the accused was a leader of a street gang involved in organized drug trafficking and firearms activity across multiple jurisdictions.

The court considered aggravating factors including the scale of the trafficking enterprise, leadership role within the organization, and involvement of firearms, as well as mitigating factors including youth, lack of prior record, and expressions of remorse.

Applying principles of denunciation, deterrence, and rehabilitation, and considering the totality principle, the court imposed a global penitentiary sentence.

Thirty‑three accused sought exclusion of wiretap evidence arising from “Project Marvel,” a large police investigation into shootings, robbery, and organized gang activity in Toronto.

The applicants argued the authorizations violated s. 8 of the Charter because the police failed to establish “investigative necessity” under s. 186(1)(b) of the Criminal Code and improperly named certain individuals as “known persons” under s. 185(1)(e).

The court applied the deferential Garofoli review standard and held the authorizing judge had a reasonable basis to conclude investigative necessity existed despite alternative investigative techniques such as cell‑phone analysis.

The court further held that the challenged individuals were properly named as targets because interception of their communications could assist the investigation and the statutory threshold is low.

A separate sub‑facial challenge relating to the search of a backyard shed and the curtilage doctrine was also rejected.