Peter Behr

The accused was charged with attempted murder after repeatedly striking the victim in the head with a hammer.

The accused had a history of paranoid schizophrenia and was in a state of advanced intoxication from methamphetamine use at the time of the attack, causing severe hallucinations.

The court found that the Crown failed to prove the specific intent required for attempted murder beyond a reasonable doubt due to the accused's mental state.

However, the accused was found guilty of the lesser included offence of aggravated assault.

The applicant brought a constitutional challenge to s. 753(1.1) of the Criminal Code, which creates a rebuttable presumption that an offender is a dangerous offender where certain predicate convictions exist.

The provision shifts the burden to the offender to disprove dangerous offender criteria on a balance of probabilities once the Crown proves specified prior convictions.

The court held that the reverse onus violates s. 7 of the Charter because it requires an offender to disprove aggravating sentencing factors that traditionally must be proven by the Crown beyond a reasonable doubt.

Applying the Oakes test, the court found the provision was not rationally connected to the legislative objective and did not minimally impair Charter rights.

The provision was declared of no force and effect.