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.

Charter of Rights - Constitutional law - Remedy - Stay of proceedings - Criminal law - Appeals - Powers of Court of Appeal - Standards of review - Abuse of process - Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in substituting itself for trial judge in assessing facts despite absence of palpable and overriding error, and particularly in minimizing seriousness and impact of conduct of certain police officers and counsel in this case, contrary to R. v. Regan, [2002] 1 S.C.R. 297, and R. v. Côté, [2011] 3 S.C.R. 215 - Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in failing to apply United States of America v. Cobb, [2001] 1 S.C.R. 587, and particularly in minimizing fact that those taking over from first Crown counsel of record did not dissociate themselves from her conduct even though that conduct was so serious it constituted extortion of appellants within meaning of s. 346 of Criminal Code - Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in failing to apply principles from R. v. O’Connor, [1995] 4 S.C.R. 411, and particularly in condoning conduct of another Crown counsel of record who, without warrant, seized information in medical record of appellant Mr. Piccirilli at prison where he was confined, without his authorization and without court order.

Antal Babos was driving a vehicle and was stopped by police officers Guy Brière and Marc Sénéchal when he left Kanesatake. The police officers had information concerning the possession of firearms, which, in their opinion, justified their intervention. After asking Mr. Babos for his driver’s licence and the relevant documents, the police officers searched the trunk of the vehicle, where they found a prohibited semi automatic firearm in a case. They then arrested Mr. Babos, among other things. As for Sergio Piccirilli, he was arrested and held in custody until the trial judgment. On November 14, 2008, the trial judge ordered a final stay of proceedings in both cases on the following grounds: the repeated threats made against Mr. Piccirilli by the initial Crown counsel of record, the conduct and testimony of police officers, particularly Guy Brière, who had changed his version of the facts between the preliminary inquiry and the trial, and the fact that counsel who had succeeded the initial Crown counsel of record had obtained Mr. Piccirilli’s medical record.