William Jaksa

The co-accused, MacGyver Edwards, brought a motion to remove Edward Sapiano as counsel of record for Tristan Lall due to a conflict of interest.

Mr. Sapiano had previously interviewed Mr. Edwards at a detention centre shortly after his arrest, before realizing they were co-accused in the same murder.

The court found that a solicitor-client relationship was formed during that interview, imparting a duty of loyalty and confidentiality.

Despite a prior waiver signed by Mr. Edwards, the court held that the risk of Mr. Sapiano taking an adverse position against his former client undermined public confidence in the administration of justice.

The motion was granted, and Mr. Sapiano was disqualified.

The Crown sought mandamus with certiorari in aid to quash preliminary inquiry discharges on several drug and firearms-related offences.

The court examined whether the preliminary inquiry judge committed jurisdictional error by failing to consider the whole of the evidence and by exceeding the limited weighing permitted when assessing circumstantial evidence under the committal test.

The reviewing court found that the preliminary inquiry judge failed to consider key evidence linking the accused to a residence containing methamphetamine and failed to consider direct expert evidence linking firearms to gun boxes found in a storage unit.

Those failures constituted jurisdictional error requiring intervention.

However, the court held there was insufficient evidence to support committal of one accused on ammunition-related charges tied to the storage unit.