R. v. Verma (J.), 2016 BCCA 220

• Judge: Lowry, Groberman and Garson, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: May 24, 2016
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: 2016 BCCA 220;(2016), 387 B.C.A.C. 145 (CA)

R. v. Verma (J.) (2016), 387 B.C.A.C. 145 (CA);

    668 W.A.C. 145

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2016] B.C.A.C. TBEd. MY.032

Regina (respondent) v. Joelon Verma (appellant)

(CA41766; 2016 BCCA 220)

Indexed As: R. v. Verma (J.)

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Lowry, Groberman and Garson, JJ.A.

May 24, 2016.

Summary:

The accused was convicted by a jury of first degree murder in the shooting death of the victim. The Crown's case was circumstantial. By agreement, text messages sent by the victim in the days before her death were admitted into evidence. A jury found the accused guilty. The accused appealed on the grounds that the trial judge erred: (1) in admitting evidence of numerous statements made by the victim in the days prior to her death and in failing to instruct the jury on the limited use that they could make of those statements; and (2) in failing to instruct the jury that the accused's post-offence conduct was relevant only to the question of whether he was the person who killed the victim and not relevant to the issue of planning and deliberation.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The accused took the position at trial that the text messages were admissible for the truth of their contents and no limiting instructions were requested. The failure to instruct the jury that the accused's post-offence conduct was only relevant to whether he was the killer was not an error. The accused's defence was that he was not involved, not that there was no planning and deliberation. The failure to give a limiting instruction gave rise to no risk of the jury misusing the evidence.

Criminal Law - Topic 4379.2

Procedure - Charge or directions - Jury or judge alone - Directions regarding evidence admissible for limited purpose - See paragraphs 29 to 46.

Criminal Law - Topic 4393

Procedure - Charge or directions - Jury or judge alone - Failure by counsel to object - Effect of - See paragraphs 29 to 46.

Criminal Law - Topic 4399.9

Procedure - Charge or directions - Jury or judge alone - Directions re flight and other post-offence behaviour of accused - See paragraphs 47 to 63.

Evidence - Topic 1531

Hearsay rule - Hearsay rule exceptions and exclusions - Admission - Failure to object - See paragraphs 29 to 46.

Counsel:

J.J. Blazina, for the appellant;

S.J. Brown and C. Lusk, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard on October 14, 2015, at Vancouver, B.C., before Lowry, Groberman and Garson, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

On May 24, 2016, Groberman, J.A., delivered the following judgment for the Court of Appeal.