Peter Walter Samuel Copeland

The appellant was convicted of possession of explosive substances with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property, and conspiracy to commit the same offence.

The main issue at trial was whether the appellant possessed the pipe bombs.

The trial judge instructed the jury on actual possession but failed to adequately explain the elements of constructive possession, particularly the requirement of control, in response to a jury question.

The Court of Appeal held that this omission was a fatal error, as constructive possession was a live issue.

The appeal was allowed, the convictions were set aside, and a new trial was ordered.

The youthful appellants pleaded guilty to numerous offences, including robbery and break-ins, committed over a six-month period spanning their eighteenth birthdays.

The sentencing judge rejected a joint submission for a reformatory sentence and instead imposed penitentiary sentences.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the joint submission was within an acceptable range and that it was contrary to the public interest to send these first-time adult offenders to the penitentiary.

The appeals were allowed and the joint submission was substituted.

The appellant appealed his murder conviction and sentence, relying on fresh recantation evidence from a key civilian witness and an inmate informant, as well as new DNA testing undermining aspects of the Crown's theory.

The court rejected the civilian witness recantation as incredible, but admitted the inmate recantation and the DNA evidence under the Palmer framework.

Although the fresh evidence significantly weakened the Crown case and impaired important inculpatory evidence, the court held it was not so conclusive as to justify an acquittal and the verdict was not shown to be unreasonable under the governing standard.

The conviction was set aside and a new trial ordered on second degree murder.

Leave to appeal the counselling sentence was granted and that sentence was reduced to time served.