Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

At the trial of the four Respondent police officers, exhibits P-1 to P-26 were filed by the Crown in its evidence. A journalist orally applied to the trial judge for permission to reproduce and broadcast exhibits P-13, P-14 and P-15, which was granted. The same day, another journalist made a new oral request for permission to reproduce and broadcast exhibit P-5, a VHS cassette containing more than sixty hours of recordings and items derived from it, namely 4 DVDs and some photo albums that were put together on the basis of the original exhibit P-5. The trial judge then changed his mind and decided to suspend any other authorizations to reproduce or use filed exhibits while inviting the media to make representations through counsel, hence the oral motion made after the Crown had closed its case. Once the media had made their representations, the Crown and the two defence counsel were asked what they thought. The trial judge then dismissed the oral motion to reproduce and use the filed exhibits for broadcast purposes during the trial, with the exception of those exhibits whose use had already been authorized, namely exhibits P-3 and P-15. However, he authorized the reproduction and broadcasting of exhibit P-5 and the items derived from it, except for the portions showing the individual Martin Brodeur, while the jury was sequestered.