Juries and judicial notice.

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa
• Position: R. v. Spence - Brief article

Sean Spence is a black man who was charged with robbing an East Indian man. At his trial he wanted to challenge potential jurors, arguing that jurors who are East Indian would feel a natural sympathy for the victim and this could aggravate or compound the potential for racial prejudice against him. The Ontario Court of Appeal agreed that he was entitled to include the interracial nature of the crime in questions for potential jurors. The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that it was up to the defence to show that there was an "air of reality" to the assertion that the victim's East Indian origin had a realistic potential to aggravate jurors' prejudice against the black accused. About judicial notice, the Court...