Case information

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Criminal law - Manslaughter - Whether conviction for manslaughter by criminal negligence causing death was inconsistent with acquittal for manslaughter by failure to provide the necessaries of life causing death - Whether the Ontario Court of Appeal erred in law by ordering a new trial for the accused instead of entering a verdict of acquittal.

On April 15, 2000, K.M. came into the foster care of the Respondent and his wife. On June 20, 2000, K.M. was pronounced dead at the Sandy Lake Nursing Station after efforts to revive him failed. K.M. was four years old at the time of his death. Blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death. Bruising on the boy’s body suggested that he had suffered abuse in the days before his death.

Both the Respondent and his wife were charged in relation to K.M.’s death. On November 29, 2004, the Respondent’s wife pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The Respondent was charged with two counts of manslaughter by unlawful act, the first by criminal negligence and the second by failing to provide the necessaries of life. At trial, a jury found the Respondent guilty on the first count (manslaughter by criminal negligence) and acquitted him on the second count (manslaughter by failing to provide the necessaries of life). On appeal, the majority of the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal. Lang J.A., dissenting, would have dismissed the appeal because the verdicts could not be said to be inconsistent because there are material differences in the constituent elements of the two offences and the trial judge’s instructions to the jury on those differences are not impugned.