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 – Defences – Intoxication – Air of reality – Whether there was an air of reality to the defence of intoxication – Whether the Court of Appeal has unduly raised the evidentiary burden for the advanced intoxication defence in murder cases by requiring expert and eye-witness evidence of intoxication, and by reasoning that circumstantial proof of intoxication is of no probative value or is irrelevant – When a murder charge involves extensive injuries to a victim, must an accused who raises the intoxication defence bear an evidentiary burden of proving incapacitation-by-intoxication.

Mr. Canning, the applicant’s friend, was found dead on the floor of the applicant’s bedroom. Mr. Canning sustained numerous sharp and blunt force injuries. The police officer found a meat cleaver and a bread knife in the applicant’s kitchen sink. There were no eye-witnesses, but the neighbours heard loud noises coming from the applicant’s apartment. After a trial by judge and jury, the applicant was convicted of second degree murder. The Court of Appeal dismissed the conviction appeal.