Statements from the Dock
- June 18, 2016
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
The defendant in a trial at common law has the right to make an unsworn statement from the dock before Crown counsel and defence counsel address the jury or “sum up” in a trial before a judge alone; and, before…
Drugs Tossed by Ontario Court of Appeal, Again!
- June 2, 2016
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
On April 12, 2013, Philippe McGuffie was convicted of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in a case reported as R v McGuffie, 2013 ONSC 2097. Although the police arbitrarily detained McGuffie, breached his right to counsel and…
Prosecutorial Discretion and the Ethics of Stays
- May 22, 2016
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
Many junior criminal lawyers in Alberta think that a stay of proceedings is a normal way for a Crown Attorney to terminate a prosecution before verdict at trial. But it hasn’t always been this way. I was a young lawyer the…
Ontario Court of Appeal Raps Arrogant Cop
- May 14, 2016
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
I don’t discuss law enforcement as a stand alone topic on this blog. But police conduct will come into play in search and seizure law. And that is what happened the day Alexander Harflett was travelling on Highway 401 in…
A Search Is a Search Is a Search
- May 6, 2016
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
I have written before on this blog about the Supreme Court of Canada’s split 4-3 ruling in R v Fearon, [2014] 3 SCR 621 where Justice Thomas Cromwell for the majority reached the startling conclusion that a police fishing expedition…