Thirty three days into a murder trial in Windsor, Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas declared a mistrial yesterday after it was revealed that police had searched databases and run background checks on potential jurors. The resulting information was then used by the Crown Attorney to assist in selecting the jury. Potential jury members suspected of …
The Ontario justice system lost a leading light on May 17, 2009, when David Humphrey passed away at the age of 83. Justice Humphrey was a leader of the criminal bar for over 35 years and was known for his extraordinary cross-examination skills, his humour and story telling ability. For years, he held court in …
I recently filed a post about a request for production of the contents of a party’s Facebook page in the context of a personal injury claim. It was only a matter of time before someone came up with the idea of circumventing this procedure by obtaining the same information by other means. In an April …
On May 14, 2009, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released a decision in a case that I was involved in on behalf of the plaintiffs. The decision, Silvestri v. Hardy, 2009 ONCA 400, concerned an action brought in Ontario as result of a car accident in Michigan. The plaintiff resides in Hamilton and has …
Car Accidents in the United States and Legal Actions in Ontario Read More »
As has been widely reported, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear Conrad Black and his co-defendants Jack Boultbee and Mark Kipnis’s appeals of their convictions in a Chicago court. The Petition for Certiorari, what we would call an Application for Leave to Appeal, can be viewed at Scotus Blog and is worth looking …
The Globe & Mail is reporting today on a case of alleged corruption involving participants in the Ontario justice system. The case started out as an investigation into fraud at Bombardier Inc. and has since expanded to include a member of the Ontario Provincial Police and a Toronto Crown Prosecutor. Included among the charges against …
The conduct of a trial is not for the faint of heart. It is stressful, time consuming work. In its March 2009 cover story entitled “7 over 70, Lions of the Trial Bar”, the American Bar Association Journal profiled seven of the most distinguished trial lawyers in the United States, all of them over 70 …
It is not uncommon for an accused person convicted of a criminal offence to blame their lawyer for the outcome. While courts look upon such complaints with scepticism, the reality is that mistakes can happen and inadequate representation can cause a miscarriage of justice. The Court of Appeal for Ontario has recognized the importance of …
It is a fundamental aspect of our civil justice system that parties to a lawsuit are required to make available to their opponent any relevant document relating to the matters in issue in the action. It does not matter if the document helps or hurts the cause, it must be produced. Lawyers, and particularly insurance …
In the Canadian legal system, there are generally two elements required to prove a crime: the act (actus rea) and the mental state (mens rea). Generally, without proof of these two elements there can be no criminal conviction. However, what may at first seem like a simple equation of two parts, can actually become a …
The Role of Mens Rea and Actus Rea in Criminal Law Read More »
