Adam Capay recently had his murder charges stayed by a Thunder Bay Superior Court for several breaches of his Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These include: The right of life, liberty and security of person (Sec. 7).The right not to be arbitrarily detained (Sec. 9).The right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment (Sec. 12).The right to be equal before and under the law (Sec. 15).
When a court finds that there has been a breach of your Charter Right, the court can either exclude evidence that was illegally obtained or can stay the charges under section 24 of the Charter. This process involvs an application of case law to the specific facts of each case. Sometimes judges can note Charter breaches but still keep evidence. This test the court uses is called the Grant test.
...when faced with an application for exclusion under s. 24(2), a court must assess and balance the effect of admitting the evidence on society's confidence in the justice system having regard to:
(1) the seriousness of the Charter-infringing state conduct (admission may send the message the justice system condones serious state misconduct),(2) the impact of the breach on the Charter-protected interests of the accused (admission may send the message that individual rights count for little), and(3) society's interest in the adjudication of the case on its merits.
in the case of Adam, the judge thought the breaches were so bad that he even stayed a murder charge. This is extremely rare in Canadian jurisprudence.
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