Criminal Lawyer Toronto - Application to tender hearsay evidence dismissed

Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Between:

Her Majesty the Queen

Respondent

and

[REDACTED]

Applicant

Counsel: [REDACTED], [REDACTED] for the Crown

M. [REDACTED], [REDACTED], for the Accused

Released: [REDACTED]

Judge: [REDACTED]

Ruling

The accused was charged with murder. The Crown alleged that the accused sexually assaulted and confined the victim, while the accused's defence was that the victim was murdered by her common law husband. Evidence was introduced by the Defence of the victim's husband's bad character. The accused, whose criminal record included 15 prior convictions, applied to prohibit the Crown from cross-examining on his criminal record in accordance with s.12 of the Canada Evidence Act. The application was granted in part as [REDACTED]. allowed the Crown to cross-examine on six convictions to allow the jury to properly assess the accused's credibility. The Crown was allowed to cross-examine the accused on the three assaults, which showed the accused's disregard for law and societal rules, but not the sexual assault and forcible confinement as they would be too prejudicial.