3 total
Appeal allowed; writ of habeas corpus issued to prevent transfer of female inmates to higher-security facility.
The appellants, female inmates at a minimum-security penitentiary scheduled for closure, were ordered transferred to a multi-level institution.
They applied for a writ of habeas corpus to prevent the transfer.
The application judge adjourned the matter but stated there would be no deprivation of liberty, effectively refusing the writ.
The Court of Appeal held this constituted a refusal, granting a right of appeal.
The Court found the appellants met the threshold of probable and reasonable grounds that the transfer would constitute unlawful detention, allowed the appeal, and ordered the writ to issue while keeping the appellants at their current institution pending the return of the writ.
Production of third-party nursing records granted, but psychiatric records denied due to high privacy expectations.
In the context of a Reference regarding his 1959 murder conviction, the applicant sought production of third-party nursing school and psychiatric records of a key Crown witness.
The applicant tendered fresh evidence from two individuals who claimed the witness admitted to lying at trial and sought psychiatric hospitalization to avoid testifying at a 1966 Supreme Court rehearing.
The Court of Appeal applied the O'Connor test and ordered production of the nursing school records, finding they provided independent confirmation of the fresh evidence with minimal prejudice to the witness's privacy.
However, the court refused to order production of the psychiatric records, concluding that the witness's high expectation of privacy outweighed the limited probative value of the one-page discharge form.
Appeal from convictions dismissed; jury properly instructed on Vetrovec warning and party liability.
The appellant appealed his convictions, arguing the trial judge erred in her Vetrovec warning regarding a Crown witness whose evidence partially assisted the appellant, and in her instructions on party liability.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the trial judge clearly limited the Vetrovec caution to evidence assisting the Crown and properly instructed the jury that they could only convict if satisfied the appellant was a party to the stabbing perpetrated by his co-accused.
