Criminal Law Blog Celebrates One Orbit Around the Sun



Release the balloon!
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of this criminal law blog:  approximately 300 blog posts, 488 pages of content, and over 6500 reads (based on Google metrics).  





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Edgar Statements: an Exception to the Rule Against Prior Consistent Statements

It is open to a trial judge to admit an accused's spontaneous out-of-court statements made upon arrest or when first confronted with an accusation as an exception to the general rule excluding prior consistent statements as evidence of the reaction of the accused to the accusation and as proof of consistency, provided the accused takes the stand and exposes himself or herself to cross- examination. The statement of the accused is not strictly evidence of the truth of what was said (subject to being admissible under the principled approach to hearsay evidence) but is evidence of the reaction of the accused, which is relevant to the credibility of the accused and as circumstantial evidence that may have a bearing on guilt or innocence. As a practical matter, once the accused has testified, he or she should be entitled to call in reply the police officer who heard and recorded the statement to verify to the jury the fact that it was made. R. v. Edgar, 2010 ONCA 529 In sum...
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Police Powers: Random Vehicle Stops

Random Vehicle Stops under the HTA The Highway Traffic Act of Ontario (specifically, section 216(1)) of the Act) allows a police officer to stop a motor vehicle even in the absence of a reasonable suspicion of an offence having been committed providing it is done for the purpose of general traffic regulation such as checking for a valid driver’s license and insurance, mechanical fitness of the vehicle and the sobriety of the driver. In short, there is a statutory basis for police to stop vehicles for the purpose of highway regulation and safety, even where the stops are random. Brown v. Durham , at para. 21; R. v. Ladouceur , [1990] 1 S.C.R. 1257, at p. 1288; R. v. Simpson (1993), 79 C.C.C. (3d) 482 (Ont. C.A.), at p. 492. Equivalent legislation in Canada’s other provinces provides likewise. See, for instance, section 201.1 of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Highway Traffic Act , R.S.N.L. 1990, c. H-3, and British Columbia’s Motor Vehicle Act, [RSBC 1996] Chap...
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