Case information

None.

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 — Evidence — Similar Fact Evidence — Whether Court of Appeal erred by applying the standard of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt to individual items of evidence — Whether Court of Appeal erred by conducting a microscopic examination of the evidence of similarities, and by failing to consider the cumulative effect of the evidence — Whether Court of Appeal erred by failing to properly relate evidence forming both a similarity between the acts and evidence linking the respondent to the offences to the improbability of coincidence — Whether Court of Appeal erred by failing to properly consider the admissibility of similar fact evidence on one of two counts

Gwendolyn Lawton and Sheryl Koroll were murdered four months apart. Mr. Butorac was charged with two counts of second degree murder. There were similarities between the circumstances of the victims and the murders, however there also were differences. The trial judge dismissed an application to sever the counts. The trial judge admitted the evidence related to Ms. Koroll’s murder as circumstantial evidence relevant to identity and intent in Ms. Lawton’s murder and the evidence related to Ms. Lawton’s murder as circumstantial evidence relevant to identity, intent and defences in Ms. Koroll’s murder.