A miscarriage of justice is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit and is synonymous with wrongful conviction. Wrongful convictions come from almost every jurisdiction in Canada. Donald Marshall in Nova Scotia, Rejean Hinse in Quebec, Steven Truscott and Guy Paul Morin in ...
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I have been following the developments about the use of cell site simulators by law enforcement agencies in the United States over the past year. This invasive cell phone tracking technology, often called StingRay, lurks in the shadows in Canada where the RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department have refused ...
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It has been a spectacular month since my last post about the court battle between Apple and the FBI - a fight in which one of the world's most respected technology companies squared off against one of the most powerful agencies of the United States government. The case erupted over ...
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I have been invited by Edmonton lawyers Aleksandra Simic and Alexandra Seaman to participate as one of their guests in their Advanced Evidence class at The University of Alberta, Faculty of Law, on March 31, 2016. The topic is informant privilege. This post consists of some notes I made and ...
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What are the basic principles of law that come into play when the Crown fails to provide disclosure before election or plea in docket court? In a case pending before the Provincial Court of Alberta at Edmonton my client refused to enter election for mode of trial on a charge ...
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In my posts titled Apple And The 'All Writs Act' dated November 2, 2015, and Apple and 'Assistance Orders' in Canada dated November 8, 2015, I discussed an application before Magistrate Judge James Orenstein of the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, in In Re Order Requiring ...
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On February 16, 2016, the United States government brought an application before Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, in the District Court for the Central District of California, for an order under the All Writs Act, 28 USC s 1651 requiring Apple Inc. to provide assistance to the FBI in the search ...
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On January 22, 2016, Justice E.J. Simpson of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta released the reasons for judgment in R v Hoelscher, 2016 ABQB 44 holding that the seizure of historic text messages by the police requires a wiretap authorization under Part VI of the Criminal Code. I ...
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The docket court in Canada functions as the initial case intake court that deals with a range of things including bail applications, the taking of elections and pleas, adjournment applications, disclosure issues, the initiation of state funded counsel applications, the scheduling of trial dates and the conduct of some sentence ...
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On January 1, 2011, the government of Hungary established the Anti-Terrorism Task Force that is active in gathering secret intelligence. Under the National Security Act, the governing legislation, the task force engaged in secret house searches; surveillance with recording; opening of letters and parcels; and, recording of electronic and computerized ...
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