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R. v. Sheppard - SCC Cases

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · 13d

R. v. Sheppard, 2025 SCC 29: Friesen applies to historical sexual abuse against children. Sentences for historical offences are properly determined in accordance with the sentencing regimes and societal perspectives that prevail at the time of sentencing
decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

decisions.scc-csc.ca

R. v. Bowie - Court of Appeal for Ontario

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · 20d

R. v. Bowie, 2025 ONCA 661 at para 27: Justice Trotter dismisses a bail pending appeal application from a convicted criminal lawyer through the public safety arm of the Oland test. This is rare.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Storey - Court of Appeal for Ontario

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Aug 28

R. v. Storey, 2025 ONCA 599 at para. 66: At sentencing, don't conflate NCR with moral blameworthiness. An offender's cognitive challenges can be mitigating even if the challenges don't rise to the NCR level.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Pierre - Court of Appeal for Ontario

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Aug 13

R. v. Pierre, 2025 ONCA 589 at para 60: The Court overturns a murder conviction entered by their now-colleague. The jury instruction failed to fully explain what the after-the-fact conduct could not do: inform the mens rea generally.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

a close up of a bald man 's face with his eyes closed and a serious look on his face .

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Aug 6

R. v. Leclaire, 2025 ONSC 4203 (CanLII): Justice Kathy Jalali refused to impose a mandatory minimum prison sentence. The appeal court (SCJ) basically called this judicial misconduct.
canlii.ca/t/kdntc

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Lisa Kerr @coleenlisa.bsky.social · Aug 13

I hear you. Some people might need to send their kid somewhere other than Conestoga tho

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Aug 8

R. v. D.B., 2025 ONCA 577 at para 19: Failing to meaningfully engage with the collateral consequences of family separation is an error in principle.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

ALT: a close up of a bald man 's face with his eyes closed and a serious look on his face .

media.tenor.com

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Lisa Kerr @coleenlisa.bsky.social · Aug 12

Great piece. Stop subsidizing families who don’t need it through artificially constrained tuition. Take steps to support students in need.

Tuition freeze should not be populist. It does not level the playing field, just destroys our universities.

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Ontario universities must be released from their financial chokehold

Declining funding, in concert with fewer international students, has placed the province’s post-secondary system in peril. It’s time for a change

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Paul Alexander @paulalexanderlaw.bsky.social · Jul 26

Heather Mallick does a disservice to the women of the criminal defence bar by implying that their male clients hire them for the optics. I'm proud to have learned from many of the brilliant women who are leading our profession. Their clients hire them because they are excellent lawyers.

www.thestar.com

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Lisa Kerr @coleenlisa.bsky.social · Jul 22

"No other court in the country has a rigid policy denying physical access to counsel."

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: It’s time to let lawyers come back to the Supreme Court of Canada

Restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic have yet to be lifted, to the detriment of the court

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Jul 20

R. v. Griffiths, 2025 ONCA 511, citing in R. v. Lu, 2022 ONSC 1918, at para. 58, per Di Luca J.: A person can be remorseful for having committed an offence while nonetheless exercising their constitutional right to a trial. The two are not incompatible.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Griffiths - Court of Appeal for Ontario

R. v. Gilmore - Court of Appeal for Ontario

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Jul 20

R. v. Gilmore, 2025 ONCA 517 at para. 47, citing Easterbrook, 2022 ONCJ 647, at paras. 43-44, per @brockbjones.bsky.social: It is an aggravating sentencing factor that an assault was committed on public transit. In this case, it was the TTC subway.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Kinamore - SCC Cases

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Tony Paisana @tonypaisana.bsky.social · Jul 15

R. v. Mariani, 2025 BCSC 1298: the retroactive elimination of "Faint Hope" is unconstitutional. Faint Hope applications are now permissible for anyone convicted of the applicable offences before or after December 2011. Another "Truth in Sentencing" provision is struck down.

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Jun 20

R. v. Kinamore, 2025 SCC 19: The Supreme Court attempts to even the ledger on 276/Seaboyer/sexual history evidence. The Crown must bring an application that mirrors s. 276's procedural requirements to introduce this evidence. [1/5]
decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

decisions.scc-csc.ca

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Tony Paisana @tonypaisana.bsky.social · Jun 27

I am pleased to announce that Peck and Company will be accepting articling applications for 2026/2027. Please submit your applications by July 15, 2025. If interested, please direct message me for further application details.

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Tony Paisana @tonypaisana.bsky.social · Jun 17

R. v. Attachie, 2025 BCCA 183: the mitigating effect of a guilty plea is enhanced if the Crown's case is weak. "A fragile Crown's case is a fundamentally important circumstance of the pleas, if not the most fundamentally important".

Hurry up and wait: The Ontario court's relentless commitment to inefficiency

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Michael Spratt @mspratt.bsky.social · Jun 27

Hurry up and wait. That’s the unofficial motto of Ontario’s criminal courts — and it’s breaking the system. My latest for Canadian Lawyer on inefficiency, inconsistency, and how scheduling a trial can take longer than actually holding one.

www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion...

Our criminal justice system has turned scheduling into a spectacle of wasted resources and hollow rituals

www.canadianlawyermag.com

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Jun 25

R. v. Singh, 2025 ONCA 460 at para 11: A judge cannot reason that as a matter of logic and common sense, one would expect a sexual abuse victim to demonstrate behaviour consistent with that abuse or change behaviour such as avoiding the perpetrator.
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Singh - Court of Appeal for Ontario

Criminological Highlights

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Criminological Highlights @crimhighlights.bsky.social · May 1

To get first access to new issues, be sure to subscribe via our website: crimhighlights.ca.

Free journal summarizing topical research in criminal justice

crimhighlights.ca

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Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Criminological Highlights @crimhighlights.bsky.social · May 1

The Spring 2025 issue of "Criminological Highlights" is out now! In it we highlight studies exploring race and risk assessment, pretrial release, the right to remain silent, and much more. View the issue here:
www.crimhighlights.ca/criminologic...

Reposted by Lisa Kerr

Chris Sewrattan @sewrattanlaw.bsky.social · Jun 6

R. v. Anderson, 2025 ONCA 408: This case is going to the SCC on two issues:
1️⃣ fabrication instruction
2️⃣ unreasonable verdict
coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...