R. v. Madraga (G.A.), 2000 SKQB 283

• Judge: Maher, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Saskatchewan (Canada)
• Case Date: June 19, 2000
• Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
• Citations: 2000 SKQB 283;(2000), 198 Sask.R. 139 (QB)

R. v. Madraga (G.A.) (2000), 198 Sask.R. 139 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2000] Sask.R. TBEd. SE.034

George Alexander Madraga (appellant) v. Her Majesty The Queen (respondent)

(1999 Q.B.C.A. No. 11; 2000 SKQB 283)

Indexed As: R. v. Madraga (G.A.)

Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial Centre of Prince Albert

Maher, J.

June 19, 2000.

Summary:

The accused appealed his conviction for having care and control of a motor vehicle while having an excessive blood-alcohol level.

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.

Courts - Topic 583

Judges - Duties - Re reasons for decisions - The accused was charged with having care and control of a motor vehicle while having an excessive blood-alcohol level - At trial the accused called five witnesses, including two expert witnesses - The trial judge convicted the accused, stating that "the accused's evidence is not credible" and there was no reasonable doubt - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench allowed the accused's appeal and ordered a new trial - The trial judge's reasons did not deal with the issues raised by the defence witnesses - The trial judge did not indicate if, in finding the accused's evi­dence not to be credible, he had applied the principles of considering reasonable doubt on the issue of credibility - The fail­ure to deal with the inde­pen­dent witnesses on the defence of "evi­dence to the con­trary" left a confus­ing scenario.

Criminal Law - Topic 4300

Procedure - Trial judge - Duties and func­tions of - Respecting credibility of witnesses (incl. accused) - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4304.2

Procedure - Trial judge - Duties and func­tions of - Duty to consider totality of evidence - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4351

Procedure - Charge or directions - Jury or judge alone - Direction regarding burden of proof and reasonable doubt - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4379

Procedure - Charge or directions - Jury or judge alone - Directions re evidence of character or credibility of accused - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4684

Procedure - Judgments and reasons for judgment - Reasons for judgment - Suffi­ciency of - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Criminal Law - Topic 4957.1

Appeals - Indictable offences - New trials - Grounds - Failure to consider evidence - [See Courts - Topic 583 ].

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Lymer (B.) (1999), 175 Sask.R. 153 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 5].

R. v. D.W., [1991] 1 S.C.R. 742; 122 N.R. 277; 46 O.A.C. 352, refd to. [para. 8].

R. v. D.R., H.R. and D.W., [1996] 2 S.C.R. 291; 197 N.R. 321; 144 Sask.R. 81; 124 W.A.C. 81; 107 C.C.C.(3d) 289; 48 C.R.(4th) 368, refd to. [para. 10].

Counsel:

M.D. Popescul, Q.C., for the appellant;

P.A. Hryhorchuk, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard by Maher, J., of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial Centre of Prince Albert, who delivered the following decision on June 19, 2000.