The accused, charged with home invasion robberies, brought a pre-trial motion under s. 8 and s. 24(2) of the Charter to exclude evidence obtained from his cellular telephone.
The police had seized the phone upon arrest and extracted its raw data without a warrant, later obtaining a search warrant to review the data.
The court found that the warrantless extraction of raw data violated the accused's s. 8 Charter rights, rejecting the Crown's argument that it was authorized under s. 489(2)(c) of the Criminal Code.
However, applying the Grant framework under s. 24(2), the court concluded that the evidence should not be excluded, as the impact on the accused's Charter-protected interests was minimal and society's interest in adjudicating the serious charges on their merits favoured admission.
The application was dismissed.
