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.

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.

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".

R. v. Davidson, 2025 BCCA 111: The "step-up" is actually a principle of restraint, and it does not require that a higher sentence be imposed on repeat offenders:

R. v. T.S., 2025 BCCA 25: Advance discussions regarding consent can be relevant to assessing an honest but mistaken belief. The question is not whether the complainant provided advance consent, but rather whether it's probative to the defence in conjunction with other evidence.

R. v. Mariani, 2025 BCSC 129: Elimination of faint hope for 1st degree murder declared unconstitutional under s. 12 of the Charter

Thanks Leo. I very much value your contributions and encourage you to keep it up. I agree Twitter "discourse" certainly has declined, but I firmly believe voices like yours are an important part of keeping us in the bar informed and engaged.

R. v. Campbell, 2024 SCC 42: Lots of takeaways, but the reaffirmation of Marakah and the sidelining of Mills on the question of privacy in text messages has to be the most important. Hopefully this will bring an end to assessing the "relationship" between texters and text content under s. 8.

R. v. Gagne, 2024 BCSC 2183: Mistrial declared post jury verdict after it was discovered the Crown was in a romantic relationship with the defence lawyer's paralegal. Concealing this fact from the accused was considered a miscarriage of justice.

R. v. Mostowy, 2024 BCCA 197: Finding of ineffective assistance where defence counsel failed to bring a severance application relating to a breach charge. The breach was connected to a prior sexual assault conviction.