Watt’s Manual of Criminal Evidence, 2023 Edition – What’s New

Supreme Court of Canada Cases

• R. v. Beaver, 2022 SCC – If a voluntary confession were obtained in a manner that breached the Charter, it may be excluded under s. 24(2).
• R. v. Dussault, 2022 SCC – The first information provided to a detainee may be deficient if police had caused him or her to doubt the legal advice received or the trustworthiness of the lawyer who had provided it.
• R. v. Gerrard, 2022 SCC – The lack of embellishment by a witness may be relevant in the assessment of credibility, but it does not make him or her more likely to be telling the truth.
• R. v. LaFrance, 2022 SCC – While a single consultation with counsel may often be constitutionally sufficient, a change of circumstance or a new development may impose a further obligation on police to hold off questioning until the detainee has had a reasonable opportunity to consult with counsel anew.
• R. v. Schneider, 2022 SCC – Party admissions offered as evidence against that party may be admissible without reference to necessity or reliability.
• R. v. Tessier, 2022 SCC – Where a reasonable basis exists to consider the accused a suspect at the time of police questioning, the absence of caution is prima facie evidence that his or her statements were involuntary.

Court of Appeal Cases

• R. v. Worrie, 2022 QCCA – To reject expert psychiatric opinion evidence on the issue of not-criminally-responsible-on-account-of-mental-disorder, especially where unanimous agreement among experts and absence of contradiction of their evidence, a rational foundation must exist in the evidence.
• R. v. King, 2022 ONCA – Except where the accused does something that justifies a broader approach, the Crown may only cross-examine them on offences of which they had been convicted, the date and place of the convictions, and the punishment they had received therefor.
• R. v. Downes, 2022 BCCA – The rule in Hodge’s Case applies only to the actus reus of an offence, not to the element of intent.
• R. v. Schirmer, 2022 BCCA – When the Crown withholds production of first-party records, the accused may apply for production under s. 683(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
• R. v. Badu, 2022 ABCA – Where police knowingly chose a Charter-infringing approach to obtaining evidence, the seriousness of the breach cannot be mitigated by discoverability.
• Charles c. R., 2022 QCCA – Recourse to subs. 9(2) of the Canada Evidence Act is not a prerequisite to the admission as hearsay of a prior out-of-court statement of a witness who claims to have no memory of anything.
• R. v. F (JM), 2022 MBCA – A trial judge must first rule on whether the Crown has met the requirements of subs. 146(2) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act in connection with an accused’s statement before ruling on the admissibility and use of that statement under s. 24(2) of the Charter.
• R. v. C.L., 2022 NLCA – In order to address a key issue while relying on the interpretation of a gesture made by a witness in answer to a question in court, the judge should disclose to counsel his or her observations of the gesture and ask for counsel to make submissions on what had been observed.

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