R. v. Taylor (T.A.S.)

• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Judge: Bennett, Harris and Goepel, JJ.A.
• Citation: 2014 BCCA 304,(2014), 359 B.C.A.C. 49 (CA)
• Date: 15 July 2014

R. v. Taylor (T.A.S.) (2014), 359 B.C.A.C. 49 (CA);

    615 W.A.C. 49

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2014] B.C.A.C. TBEd. AU.008

Regina (respondent) v. Thomas Andrew Sandy Taylor (appellant)

(CA040518; 2014 BCCA 304)

Indexed As: R. v. Taylor (T.A.S.)

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Bennett, Harris and Goepel, JJ.A.

July 15, 2014.

Summary:

The accused appealed his convictions for breach of probation contrary to s. 733.1(1) of the Criminal Code and for criminal harassment contrary to s. 264. The accused submitted that the trial judge materially misapprehended some of the evidence and made certain findings of fact not supported by the evidence; considered certain conduct of the accused of which the complainant was not aware in determining that the complainant was harassed; and engaged in propensity reasoning in convicting the accused of criminal harassment.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal, in a decision reported at (2014), 355 B.C.A.C. 77; 607 W.A.C. 77, dismissed the appeal. The court agreed with the Crown's submission that the accused's arguments invited the court to conduct "a piecemeal evaluation of the evidence" instead of viewing the cumulative effect of the evidence as a whole as the trial judge clearly did. The accused was sentenced to 4.5 years' imprisonment for criminal harassment, and a concurrent term of imprisonment for breach of probation, before credit for remand time. The accused applied for leave to appeal sentence and, if granted, appealed. The Crown applied to adduce fresh evidence.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal, refused the Crown's application to adduce fresh evidence, and allowed the sentence appeal to the extent of giving an additional 257 days' credit for remand time by calculating it based on a 1.5:1 basis.

Criminal Law - Topic 5834.7

Sentencing - Considerations on imposing sentence - Mental illness or disorder - See paragraphs 18 to 21.

Criminal Law - Topic 5848.2

Sentencing - Considerations on imposing sentence - Time already served - See paragraphs 28 to 47.

Criminal Law - Topic 5969

Sentence - Criminal harassment - See paragraphs 22 to 27.

Criminal Law - Topic 6218

Sentencing - Appeals - Variation of sentence - Evidence on appeal (incl. fresh evidence) - See paragraphs 30 to 44.

Cases Noticed:

R. v. C.A.M., [1996] 1 S.C.R. 500; 194 N.R. 321; 73 B.C.A.C. 81; 120 W.A.C. 81, refd to. [para. 16].

R. v. Johnson (D.K.) (1996), 84 B.C.A.C. 261; 137 W.A.C. 261; 112 C.C.C.(3d) 225 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 17].

R. v. Nasogaluak (L.M.) (2010), 398 N.R. 107; 474 A.R. 88; 479 W.A.C. 88; 2010 SCC 6, refd to. [para. 17].

R. v. B.B. (2009), 247 O.A.C. 37; 241 C.C.C.(3d) 491; 2009 ONCA 114, refd to. [para. 21].

R. v. Bennight (R.) (2012), 329 B.C.A.C. 250; 560 W.A.C. 250; 2012 BCCA 461, refd to. [para. 21].

R. v. Campbell (Q.), [2012] B.C.T.C. Uned. 904; 2012 BCSC 904, refd to. [para. 25].

R. v. Moore (J.S.) (2006), 229 B.C.A.C. 302; 379 W.A.C. 302; 2006 BCCA 377, refd to. [para. 25].

R. v. Malakpour (S.) (2008), 258 B.C.A.C. 154; 434 W.A.C. 154; 2008 BCCA 326, refd to. [para. 25].

R. v. Summers (S.) (2014), 456 N.R. 1; 316 O.A.C. 349; 2014 SCC 26, refd to. [para. 28].

R. v. Palmer, [1980] 1 S.C.R. 759; 30 N.R. 181, refd to. [para. 33].

R. v. Lévesque (R.), [2000] 2 S.C.R. 487; 260 N.R. 165; 191 D.L.R.(4th) 574; 2000 SCC 47, refd to. [para. 33].

R. v. Sipos (J.P.) (2014), 460 N.R. 1; 320 O.A.C. 76; 2014 SCC 47, refd to. [para. 34].

R. v. Bradbury (E.T.) (2013), 339 B.C.A.C. 169; 578 W.A.C. 169; 298 C.C.C.(3d) 31; 2013 BCCA 280, refd to. [para. 36].

R. v. Gardiner, [1982] 2 S.C.R. 368; 43 N.R. 361, refd to. [para. 39].

R. v. Angelillo (G.), [2006] 2 S.C.R. 728; 355 N.R. 226; 2006 SCC 55, refd to. [para. 42].

R. v. Good (A.V.) (1995), 66 B.C.A.C. 308; 108 W.A.C. 308 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 43].

Counsel:

P.M. McGowan and K. McCleery, for the appellant;

M. Ruttan, for the respondent.

These applications and appeal were heard at Vancouver, B.C., by Bennett, Harris and Goepel, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Bennett, J.A., delivered the following decision for the court on July 15, 2014.