Kerry Alexander Nahanee v. Her Majesty the Queen (39599)

Posted on: 2022-06-20

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2:47:17

(PUBLICATION BAN IN CASE)

The appellant plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault. The appellant and Crown made sentencing submissions, which were not joint submissions. The Crown sought a 4 6 year global sentence. The appellant sought a 3 to 3.5 year global sentence. There was no guilty plea in exchange for joint submissions on sentence. The sentencing judge did not agree with the sentencing submissions, and imposed a sentence of eight years’ imprisonment. The sentencing judge did not alert counsel that she was intending to exceed the Crown’s proposed sentence. The Court of Appeal dismissed the sentence appeal.

Argued Date

2022-03-16

Keywords

Criminal law - Sentencing - Criminal law — Sentencing — Guilty plea — Sentencing judge exceeding sentence proposed by Crown and failing to warn parties — Are the considerations set out in Anthony Cook applicable to non joint submissions where the Crown and the accused negotiate sentencing positions that reflect partial agreement or an agreed upon range — Whether the failure of a trial judge to alert counsel that they intend to exceed the sentencing ceiling proposed by Crown an error in principle resulting in fundamental unfairness and warranting appellate intervention.

Notes

(British Columbia) (Criminal) (By Leave) (Publication ban in case)

Disclaimers

This podcast is created as a public service to promote public access and awareness of the workings of Canada's highest court. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Court. The original version of this hearing may be found on the Supreme Court of Canada's website. The above case summary was prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch).