Criminals - Appeals - Crown Appeals from Acquittal
. R. v. Spicer
In R. v. Spicer (Ont CA, 2023) the Court of Appeal states the test for a Crown appeal from an acquittal:
[13] Finally, even accepting that any error occurred in the trial judge’s reasoning, the SCAJ was required to determine whether any such error materially affected the trial judge’s ultimate conclusion. As this court observed in R. v. B.(S.C.) (1997), 1997 CanLII 6319 (ON CA), 36 O.R. (3d) 516 (C.A.), at para. 44:
On a Crown appeal from acquittal, an appellate court may only order a new trial if it is reasonably certain that the trial judge would not necessarily have acquitted the accused had no error been made: [citation omitted]. In R. v. Evans 1993 CanLII 102 (SCC), [1993] 2 S.C.R. 629, 82 C.C.C. (3d) 338 at p. 350, Cory J. emphasized that "the Crown must satisfy the court with a reasonable degree of certainty that the verdict would not necessarily have been the same." He stressed that this "is a very heavy onus and it is fitting that it should be.”
The author has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this Isthatlegal.ca webpage.
