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.

Criminal law - First degree murder - Elements of offence - Police officer acting in course of duties - Defences - Provocation - Self-defence - Whether the Crown must establish that an officer is acting lawfully in the course of his duties at the time he was killed to establish that an accused is guilty of murder of a police officer contrary to s. 231(4)(a) - Does the fact of an unlawful assault and arrest by a police officer raise self-defence or provocation? - Whether a jury must first determine guilt contrary to s. 229(a) of the Criminal Code before it considers whether there was also guilt contrary to s. 231(4)(a) - Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, s. 231(4)(a).

Jaw was convicted on February 18, 2004 of first degree murder in the shooting of R.C.M.P. Cst. Jergen Seewald on March 5, 2001. On that date, in the early morning hours, Cst. Seewald attended the apartment of Jaw and his common-law spouse, Ms. Ettinger, to answer a 911 call by Ettinger recorded at 2:05 a.m. on March 5, 2001. Cst. Seewald, a 26-year veteran member of the R.C.M.P. and the second in command of his detachment, went alone. While there, Cst. Seewald was fatally shot through the side with a shotgun handled by Jaw.

On his appeal, Jaw challenged his conviction, saying that defences of provocation and self-defence should have been put to the jury and that the jury was unfairly misdirected on the subject of his intent and as to the assessment of his evidence. Jaw also contended that the jury should have been instructed that Cst. Seewald was not acting in the course of his duty, such that a verdict of second degree murder was available. The majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed Jaw’s appeal.