Roger A. Burrill

The appellant was convicted of second degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm following a jury trial in which the Crown called a former co-accused as a witness.

The trial judge issued a Vetrovec warning cautioning the jury about the witness's credibility, despite the witness giving exculpatory testimony.

The majority of the Court of Appeal found that the Vetrovec warning was given in error but applied the curative proviso, holding the error harmless.

The dissenting judge found application of the curative proviso inappropriate.

The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal, adopting the reasoning of the dissenting judge, and ordered a new trial.

The accused appealed a sexual assault conviction, arguing the trial judge improperly used prior consistent statements.

A majority held the trial judge only addressed alleged inconsistencies on peripheral matters and made proper use of the statements.

The appeal was dismissed, with one dissent.

The appellant was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder at trial.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal upheld the convictions.

On further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the appellant challenged the reasonableness of the verdicts.

The Court unanimously agreed with the majority of the Court of Appeal that the verdict was not unreasonable and dismissed the appeal.

This criminal appeal considered whether a roadside detention in a police cruiser and a related pat-down search violated Charter protections against arbitrary detention and unreasonable search.

A majority found the pat-down search unconstitutional because securing the accused in the cruiser was not reasonably necessary in the circumstances.

The majority nevertheless admitted the cocaine evidence under section 24(2) based on good-faith conduct and evolving detention-law context.

The conviction for possession for the purpose of trafficking was upheld.

The appeal was dismissed with dissenting reasons favouring exclusion and acquittal.