Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Between:
Her Majesty the Queen
Respondent
and
[REDACTED]
Applicant
Counsel: J.
Scutt, S. Lee for the Crown
M.
McLachlan, M. Friedberg, for the Accused
Released: November 14, 2002
Archibald, J.
Ruling
The accused was charged with murder. The Crown alleged that the accused
sexually assaulted and confined the victim, while the accused's defence was
that the victim was murdered by her common law husband. Evidence was introduced
by the Defence of the victim's husband's bad character. The accused, whose
criminal record included 15 prior convictions, applied to prohibit the Crown
from cross-examining on his criminal record in accordance with s.12 of the
Canada Evidence Act. The application was granted in part as Archibald J.
allowed the Crown to cross-examine on six convictions to allow the jury to
properly assess the accused's credibility. The Crown was allowed to
cross-examine the accused on the three assaults, which showed the accused's
disregard for law and societal rules, but not the sexual assault and forcible
confinement as they would be too prejudicial.