Crystal Cyr Law

35089 W.E.B. v. The Queen (Publication Ban in Case and on Party) (Criminal law – trial – ineffective assistance of counsel – trial counsel refusing to allow accused to testify – whether trial counsel is bound to follow his or her client’s instructions – whether trial counsel must have basic understanding of the general principles and case law for the area of law involved – whether miscarriage of justice occurred)

On appeal from the judgment of the Ontario Court of Appeal pronounced November 14, 2012. The applicant was convicted of three counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual touching and one count of invitation to sexual touching. The complainants were the applicant’s step-granddaughter and step-daughter as well as the daughter of one of his former girlfriends. The first allegations were made by his step-granddaughter, who was 7 years old that the time of the alleged incidents and 9 years old at the time of trial. These allegations were followed by those of the other two complainants, now adults, which allegedly took place when one was 14 years old and the other, 9 or 10 years old. A single trial was held in respect of the allegations by all three complainants, in front of a judge alone. The applicant retained and was represented by trial counsel. No witnesses were called by the defence at trial and the applicant did not testify. The applicant appealed from his conviction on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel. He argued that his trial counsel misrepresented her experience with sexual assault trials; that she did not have an adequate understanding of criminal law to enable her to properly handle his defence; that she failed to subpoena witnesses, contrary to his instructions; that she failed to enter a promissory note, which formed an essential part of his defence, into evidence; that she refused to ask questions of Crown witnesses that he instructed her to ask; and that she refused to permit him to testify in his own defence. The applicant submitted that his trial counsel’s incompetence led to a miscarriage of justice. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal.

Client in W.E.B. released by OCA and application for leave filed with SCC!

In the OCA today attempting to get bail pending appeal to the Supreme Court in R. v. W.E.B., 2012 ONCA 776.

Crystal Cyr Law Firm@crystalcyrlaw

MICHAEL HAS AGREED to take on a high profile case in St John's NF, Co-COUNSEL WILL BE PETER RALPH, Q.C, http://canlii.ca/t/1ws2s

CanLII - 2008 NLTD 80 (CanLII)