Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Her Majesty the Queen
and
[REDACTED]
Counsel: Angela Jeffrey, for Crown
Matthew Friedberg,
for Accused
Released: June 15,
2005
Epstein
J.
Ruling
The accused was a 19-year-old male with no criminal record who was
charged with 42 offences arising from five separate home invasions. The accused
applied to have three of his statements to the police excluded on the basis that
they were involuntary and that his right to counsel pursuant to s. 10(a), (b)
of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was infringed. The Court ruled the
statements were inadmissible on the basis that the Crown failed to discharge their
heavy onus to prove voluntariness of the first two statements beyond a reasonable
doubt by the failure of the police to follow proper recording procedures. The
third statement was also ruled inadmissible because of its strong causal
connection to the first two statements, thereby also requiring its exclusion.