April showers bring Paciocco JA flowers. Right 📷 R. v. Berg, 2026 SCC 21 Left 📷 R. v. Jacques-Taylor, 2026 SCC 20

R. v. Berg, 2026 SCC 21: Guilt cannot rest only on whether the trier of fact believes the Crown’s evidence or finds it more plausible. It must rest on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is more than a “considered and reasoned acceptance” of the C's evidence. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. J.C., 2026 ONCA 383: A 2-1 split on sentencing a CSAEM offender with serious mental illness. Fairburn ACJO, in dissent would impose a CSO of two years less a day. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Animal Justice v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2026 ONCA 380 at para 90: Justice Miller rules, in obiter, that a Charter right's violation is only established at the conclusion of the s. 1 analysis. He's been banging this drum for a while. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Jacques-Taylor, 2026 SCC 20: In s. 11(b), a particular event does not need to be rare to amount to a discrete exceptional circumstance; for example, delay caused by a co-accused's lawyer's unavailability. canlii.ca/t/kl6ql

R. v. Vrbanic, 2026 SCC 19: The SCC recalibrates the s. 11(b) test for case complexity. I have some thoughts. canlii.ca/t/kgvrs

R. v. Sivasothy, 2026 ONCA 382 at para. 36: It is generally helpful for trial judges to be explicit about the possibility that the absence of evidence could give rise to a reasonable doubt specifically in relation to circumstantial evidence. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Suman, 2026 ONCA 378 at para. 51: Child luring text messages do not attract s. 8 Charter protection. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Magistrate judge was not wrong to issue warrant to search computers based in part on hash matches of known images of CSAM found on peer-to-peer networks, CA9 says: Officers didn't need to download the CSAM first to establish probable cause. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

R. v. Saddleback, 2026 SCC 18: An error-correcting decision from the Supreme Court about the hearsay rule's applicability. Here are some small observations. canlii.ca/t/kl379

R. v. A.B., 2026 ONCA 361 at para 37: In each of these instances, the evidence, while not accepted, has not been definitively rejected. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Pham, 2025 BCCA 324: The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave to appeal. It will consider whether courier company employees who follow police instructions to set aside packages become "state agents" engaging s. 8 of the Charter. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. M.A., 2026 ONCA 358 at para 15: The court can preclude an appellant from belatedly pursuing an IAC Claim in an existing appeal. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

How does a case get to the Federal Court of Appeal to be dismissed on the basis that the Federal Court doesn't have jurisdiction over the dispute at all? It seems to have never come up until after argument. Gorenstein v. Meta Platforms, 2026 FCA 97 canlii.ca/t/kl04l

If the ONCA is correct then many carless driving (HTA) convictions need to be quashed. See and note up R. v. Shergill, 2016 ONCJ 163 (CanLII), at para 13.

R. v. Khodayar, 2026 ONCA 349 at para. 30: s. 13 of the Charter does not protect testimony where the testimony is itself the actus reus of an offence. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Nygard, 2026 ONCA 345: Given the copious instruction, why the evidence was admitted in the first place? It has long been established in criminal law that there is no single way in which to respond to sexual assault trauma. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16: The Supreme Court of Canada recognizes a new tort of intimate partner violence centred on coercive control. Here are some criminal law implications 🧵 scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-...

His Majesty the King v. Patrick Dussault: Déjà vu? Mr. Dussault is back at the SCC because he got a harsher sentence after his retrial. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

Derenzis v. Ontario, 2026 ONCA 344: The Court overturns a production order for a lawsuit claiming that the LAT lacks adjudicative independence and is systemically biased against the plaintiffs and a law firm. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. M.L., 2026 ONCA 339: New jury trial because the judge admitted a 3-year-old's hearsay statement under the principled exception without grappling with how much of it was elicited by her mother's leading questions. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. I.L., 2026 ONCA 329 at paras. 13-14: The Court ducks the issue of whether s. 10(b) requires the police to provide a list of lawyers upon request, as is common in Alberta. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Gomez, 2026 ONCA 330 at para 11: A sentence is not demonstrably unfit simply because it is unprecedented coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Aubin, 2026 ONCA 324 at paras. 20-21: There are two branches to ineffective assistance of counsel. 1️⃣Trial fairness--the process of justice. 2️⃣The result--the result would have been different without counsel's error. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Lam, 2024 ONCA 136 at para 6: Knowledge that a package contains a controlled substance is not enough for criminal importing. The Crown also must prove that D knew it came from abroad. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Oguntoyinbo, 2026 ONCA 320 at paras 12-13: The Bertrand Marchand approach to multi-count sentencing is not mandatory. The longstanding ONCA approach remains a valid alternative and can avoid compartmentalized reasoning. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. T.G., 2026 ONCA 298 at para. 135: In a split decision, the ONCA reconfirms that there is no s. 24(3) of the Charter that allows for the automatic admission of a firearm into evidence. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Breaking from the usual appellate posts for a sec. I've been nominated for the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers (Human Rights, Advocacy & Criminal). A real honour. If you've gotten anything out of these posts over the years, voting closes May 15: surveys.keymedia.com/s3/8529aba39... Thank you.

R v. K.L., 2026 ONCA 300: Sentence appeal allowed because the judge failed to follow the principle of restraint despite applying Gladue 🪡 coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R v. A.K., 2026 ONSC 2262: Justice David Harris of the SCJ finds that 'bail set not met' is legally available in Ontario, though caution should be exercised in serious cases where the surety's supervision is important.

R. v. G.G., 2026 SCC 12 at para 9: In a criminal trial, proof of timing is generally not required except where the date or time is: 1️⃣ an essential element of the offence; or 2️⃣ crucial to the defence decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. S.F., 2026 ONCA 293: New trial because the judge reasoned that the accused person's infidelity made them more likely to have committed a sexual assault. There was an additional procedural fairness element to this flawed myth-based reasoning. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Nguyen, 2026 SCC 10: An 11(b) stay of proceedings does not oust statutory jurisdiction in respect of forfeiture. Jurisdiction survives under statutory rules that operate independently of trial and sentencing, including under s. 490. scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. Ateyah, 2026 ONCA 287: This case explains the law on similar fact applications for multi-count indictments. It's long, with a 15,253 word partial dissent from Paciocco J.A. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. J.H.C., 2026 ONCA 285 at para 45: Remarking on a “gap in the Crown’s case” left by the failure to call a witness should not be confused with drawing an adverse inference coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Robertson, 2026 ONCA 281: The 5 ng/mL THC limit for operation causing death is constitutional. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Reeve, 2026 ONCA 290 at para. 7: The hallmark of a fraud on the public is simply that the victims of the fraud can rationally be grouped as a whole for the purpose of assessing the guilt or innocence of the accused coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Fitzpatrick, 2026 ONCA 262: New 1st degree murder trial ordered in part because the Crown quoted Miaponoose to the jury in closing submissions. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Allred, 2026 ONCA 258 at para. 93: An in-custody accused is presumed to sit in the prisoner’s box. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. A.S., 2026 ONCA 241: The court leaves for another day extending Soobrian; a jury instruction that if they reject the evidence of a D witness, they must not infer from that rejection either that 🤥 the D is less credible ❌ the D is therefore guilty coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Vannoordennen, 2026 ONCA 236: In this post-Tayo Tompouba world, I dont think you can do that anymore. If there's an error, you run it through the proviso. The 1️⃣ step is to assume prejudice. The 2️⃣ step is to see if the Crown can prove it away. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Clarke, 2026 ONCA 233: This sexual assault case has a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. It's fact-specific, about a misapprehension of evidence and the use of stereotypical reasoning against the defendant. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Marshman, 2026 ONCA 235: This case has a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The offence of child luring does not require an intent to commit the secondary offence (i.e. sexual interference) coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Abdella, 2026 ONCA 228: It was not an abuse of process for an AG to prefer a direct indictment for a matter that was 22 months old in the lower court, even though there's no evidence the AG knew this would get a faster trial in the higher court. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Greer, 2026 ONCA 222 at para. 23: Intimate partner abuse under s. 718.2(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code encompasses conduct that harms, exploits vulnerability, or wrongfully asserts power even absent overt violence or threats coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Singer, 2026 SCC 8 (CanLII): In a 5-4 split, the SCC finds that the police have a common law licence to approach a dwelling to question the occupier for the purpose of furthering a lawful investigation. canlii.ca/t/kjxhb

R. v. Hillier, 2026 ONCA 202: 11(b) stay of proceedings overturned in this Convoy case. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Davis, 2026 ONCA 198: A sexual abuse victim will have to testify again if she wants to secure a conviction because the trial judge fell well short of the standard required to assist a self-represented accused person. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Purvis, 2026 ONCA 187: Sentence appeal allowed because the judge anchored the sentence to an incomparable co-accused whose sentence reflected a joint submission. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Lye, 2026 ONCA 188: Rich analysis from Pomerance JA on the ability to cross-examine in a Garofoli application, and the reasonable expectation of privacy in a shared parking garage. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...