Case information

Charter of Rights — Right to fair trial — Criminal law — Severance — Evidence — Reasonableness of verdicts — Jury charge — Whether it was an error to deny severance of one count — Whether the jury charge was unfair, imbalanced and breached s. 11 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Whether it was an error to allow Crown counsel to adduce speculative motives — Whether a trial judge referring to an accused as Mr. Murder on multiple occasions while instructing the jury prejudices the right to a fair jury trial — Whether verdicts are unreasonable — Whether convictions do not properly reflect significant evidence.

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.

In 2010, four men were fatally shot in three unconnected shootings. Mr. Moore was charged with all four murders and tried before a jury. An application to sever one charge was dismissed. The Crown’s case was circumstantial and in part relied on evidence of Mr. Williams, an unsavoury witness whose testimony required a vetrovec warning. The Crown’s case also relied on intercepted phone and text messages, Mr. Moore’s rap lyrics, after-the-fact conduct, evidence connecting Mr. Moore to the two handguns used in the shootings, forensic evidence, and the Crown’s theory of motive. A jury convicted Mr. Moore on four counts of first degree murder. The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal.