News @ Cooper & Sandler LLP - Toronto Criminal Law Firm

Sexual Assault Law in Ontario
Published: June 23, 2010

Paper Presented At Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program St. John's Nfld., July, 2010, Section 0.1
Author: Mark J. Sandler

Introduction

This paper briefly examines the offence of sexual assault. Other papers address sexual interference and related offences (O.2), and common defences to crimes of a sexual nature, namely consent (P.1) and mistaken belief in consent (P.2).

Section 271 of the Criminal Code provides that every one who commits a sexual assault is guilty of either an indictable offence (punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years) or a summary conviction offence (punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 18 months). 

Liability of Officers & Directors
Published: June 22, 2010

Paper Presented At Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program St. John's Nfld., July, 2010, Section H.4.2
Author:Mark J. Sandler

Organizations, and most significantly corporations, act or omit to act through their officers, directors, agents and employees. Not surprisingly, jurisprudence exists on when such organizations bear criminal or regulatory liability under either the Criminal Code or other legislation (federal, provincial or territorial). (See Justice Wilson’s paper on Corporate Criminal Responsibility at section H.4.1)  

The Ken Murray Case: Defence Counsel's Dilemma
Published: October 16, 2009

Article Published by Canada Law Book in the Criminal Law Quarterly, Vol. 47, pg. 41
Author: Austin Cooper, Q.C.

About 45 years ago a man came into a lawyer’s office and retained him to defend him on a charge of capital murder. It was the middle of the night. The lawyer (who later became a judge) determined that there was indeed a warrant out for his client’s arrest for murder, and advised him that he must surrender to the police.

The Defence of Innocence 1990
Published: October 09, 2009

Article published in Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C. ed., Counsel for the Defence(Toronto: Irwin Law, 2005)
Author: Austin Cooper, Q.C.

Between January 11 and March 22, 1981, four infants who were patients in the cardiac ward at the Hospital for sick Children in Toronto died as a result of the deliberate administration of overdoses of a heart drug called Digoxin

Identification Evidence
Published: October 02, 2009

Paper Presented at Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program Victoria, British Columbia, July, 2009 - SECTION 6.2

Author: Mark J. Sandler

It is well recognized that inaccurate eyewitness identification evidence is a systemic cause – perhaps the leading cause – of wrongful convictions. Eyewitnesses frequently “get it wrong.” This reflects not only the inherent difficulties in identifying people, particularly strangers, but how easily identifications can be tainted through flawed processes and become the product of suggestibility or contamination.

The Lawyer's Duty of Confidentiality
Published: July 31, 2009

Paper Presented at Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program Edmonton, Alberta July, 2007 - SECTION 17.1
Author: Mark J. Sandler

It is beyond dispute that a lawyer has a duty of confidentiality to the client. However, the breadth of the duty, and exceptions to it, are more contentious. This paper briefly examines the parameters of this duty, most particularly in the context of criminal representation.

The duty of confidentiality finds expression not only in jurisprudence, but in ethical rules adopted by various law societies and by the Canadian Bar Association.

Should Experts Testify as Independant Sources of Information, Not as Witnessess on Behalf of the Party Who Calls Them?
Published: July 17, 2009

Paper Presented At Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program Victoria, British Columbia, July, 2009
Author: Mark J. Sandler

Point-Counterpoint: Should Experts Testify As Independent Sources of Information, Not as Witnesses on Behalf of the Party Who Calls Them?

FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE: YES, THEY SHOULD

The recent Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (“the Inquiry”) was prompted by the serious deficiencies in the work done and opinions rendered by Dr. Charles Smith, a renowned pathologist affiliated both with the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and with the Chief Coroner’s Office.