R. v. Szczerba (K.M.)

• Judge: McFadyen, Hunt and Paperny, JJ.A.
• Date: 19 April 2004
• Citation: 2004 ABCA 189,(2004), 354 A.R. 10 (CA)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Alberta)

R. v. Szczerba (K.M.) (2004), 354 A.R. 10 (CA);

    329 W.A.C. 10

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2004] A.R. TBEd. JN.042

Kenneth Michael Szczerba (appellant) v. Her Majesty The Queen (respondent)

(0201-0378-A; 2004 ABCA 189)

Indexed As: R. v. Szczerba (K.M.)

Alberta Court of Appeal

McFadyen, Hunt and Paperny, JJ.A.

April 19, 2004.

Summary:

The accused appealed his conviction for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The Alberta Court of Appeal denied the appeal.

Criminal Law - Topic 4684

Procedure - Judgments and reasons for judgment - Reasons for judgment - Suffi­ciency of - The accused was convicted of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after police found a package of cocaine in his briefcase - The trial judge rejected the accused's assertion that he had no knowledge of the cocaine - The accused appealed, submitting that the trial judge's reasons were inadequate where the reasons for disbelieving his testimony were not articulated - The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal - The adequacy of reasons for judgment was not a free-stand­ing ground of appeal - The reasons must be sufficient to permit meaningful appel­late review - The trial judge's reasons made it clear that the accused's testimony was rejected because it was inconsistent with the observations of the police officers and the physical evidence found - The reasons, viewed as a whole, made it clear why the accused's story was rejected and why he was convicted.

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Sheppard (C.), [2002] 1 S.C.R. 869; 284 N.R. 342; 211 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 50; 633 A.P.R. 50, refd to. [para. 11].

Counsel:

H. Wolch, Q.C., for the appellant;

R.A. Sigurdson, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard on April 19, 2004, before McFadyen, Hunt and Paperny, JJ.A., of the Alberta Court of Appeal.

On April 19, 2004, the following memor­andum of judgment was delivered orally by Paperny, J.A., with written reasons filed on June 1, 2004.