Summary

Keywords

Criminal law - Sentencing - Criminal law — Sentencing — Guilty plea — Sentencing judge exceeding sentence proposed by Crown and failing to warn parties — Are the considerations set out in Anthony-Cook applicable to non-joint submissions where the Crown and the accused negotiate sentencing positions that reflect partial agreement or an agreed upon range — Whether the failure of a trial judge to alert counsel that they intend to exceed the sentencing ceiling proposed by Crown an error in principle resulting in fundamental unfairness and warranting appellate intervention.

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Summary

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The appellant plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault. The appellant and Crown made sentencing submissions, which were not joint submissions. The Crown sought a 4-6 year global sentence. The appellant sought a 3 to 3.5 year global sentence. There was no guilty plea in exchange for joint submissions on sentence. The sentencing judge did not agree with the sentencing submissions, and imposed a sentence of eight years’ imprisonment. The sentencing judge did not alert counsel that she was intending to exceed the Crown’s proposed sentence. The Court of Appeal dismissed the sentence appeal.