Pub Bans and Sealing Orders
January 9, 2012
R. v. Schertzer et al
Justice Pardu held that in principle, "in this era of newspapers on the internet", journalists should be able to transmit information from court whether they do so by stepping into the hall for a moment, or doing so unobtrusively in the courtroom. Provided that the proceedings are not disrupted, this means the ability to use Blackberries, laptop computers and similar devices from inside the courtroom, and to use those devices to record any portions of the proceedings in which they are interested for the purposes of supplementing or replacing handwritten notes.
October 13, 2011
R. v. Kossyrine and Vorobiov
An Ontario Court refused to grant a publication ban on a co-accused's guilty plea in a first degree murder trial. The deciding upheld the importance of media's role in reporting court activity to the public and made some important observations about the relationship between the media and juries. "the accused are entitled to an impartial jury not an uninformed jury.".
October 5, 2011
R. v. Sipes 2011 BCSC 1329
The B.C. Supreme Court ruled that a publication ban application under s. 486.5 of the Criminal Code was not governed by the Dagenais/Mentuck test, although the test provided guidance in interpreting and analysing the s. 486.5 criteria. The Court granted a ban on publication of the identity of five inmate witnesses, four of whom were serving life sentences for murder.
However, the Court denied a publication ban sought by a lawyer who had acted for some of the accused and was awaiting trial on a charge of participating in the activities of their alleged criminal organization. In this instance the Court found the Dagenais/Mentuck test to be the appropriate legal framework within which to analyse the application for a publication ban.
December 16, 2010
R. v. Rafferty 2010
The Crown applied for direction from the court regarding the extent to which an automatic publication ban, provided for under s. 648 of the Criminal Code of Canada, would apply to pretrial motions and applications, in Michael Rafferty`s trial for the murder of Victoria Stafford. Justice Heeney of the Ontario Superior Court ordered a blanket publication ban on all pre-trial motions and applications, with the option for the media to apply for leave to publish.
A blanket publication ban with the option to apply for leave to publish provides the appropriate mechanism both to ensure compliance with applicable statutory bans, as well as to act as a temporary stay on publication until such time as a publication ban hearing can be held and the merits of a common law ban determined.
May 19, 2010
R. v. McClintic 2010 ONSC 2944
The Ontario Superior court granted a temporary publication ban on information that mentioned or referred "in any way either directly or indirectly to anything stated directly or indirectly in court about Michael Thomas Christopher Stephen Rafferty" at the trial of Terri-Lynne Ruth McClintic. The ban is no longer in effect as the trial of Mr. Rafferty has been completed and a verdict has been rendered.