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Canadian Lawyer Magazine has named Bayne Sellar Ertel Carter one of the top criminal law firms in the country. From October 4 to 29, 2021, the Canadian Lawyer team asked lawyers, in-house counsel, and clients from across the country to select the criminal law firms...
Defence counsel are often faced with difficult tactical decisions to make at the end of a murder case. One of those difficult decisions is how to deal with alternative defences without undercutting the main defence theory. For example, the accused’s main defence may...
The defence of duress is potentially available for many offences, although its applicability to a murder charge would appear to be extremely limited. It may, however, arise in an assault or drug trafficking case. In essence, the defence is that a person was forced...
Facing accusations of sexual assault from multiple complainants can feel overwhelming. There is a real danger that jurors may leap to conclusions based on the mere fact that more than one person is making the same kind of allegation. Where there is smoke there is...
If you have been charged with sexual assault or sexual interference, one of the potential defences is that the activity in question was not sexual in nature. The defence operates slightly differently depending on which charge you are facing. 15. Section 153(1)(a)...
There are consequences when a person breaks the law in Canada. The type and degree of penalties depend on several details, ranging from who committed an offence and the nature of the crime to the presence of aggravating factors. This last element of aggravating...
Cellphones now facilitate nearly all forms of business and personal activity. And there is no question that cellphones are used to facilitate criminal activity. It has been noted that cellphones are the "bread and butter" of the drug trade and the means by which...
Imagine a scenario in which an individual fires a gun into the air in a crowded room. The offence of intentionally discharging a firearm being reckless to the life or safety of another person (s. 244.2 of the Criminal Code) is a newer firearm offence that was...
As noted in a previous blog post, the Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, introduced proposed amendments to the Criminal Code and to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The purpose of the Bill is to decrease the...
In many sexual assault trials, an accused person will have a copy of text messages or emails from the person making the allegations (known in the criminal justice system as the "complainant"). Sometimes those communications might be about the offences themselves. ...
