Respondent's Factum
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SCC No. 33694 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA (ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA) BETWEEN: LARRY WAYNE JESSE APPELLANT (Appellant) AND: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN RESPONDENT (Respondent) An Order has been made in this case directing that the identity of the complainant(s) and any information that could disclose their identity not be published in any document or broadcast in any way pursuant to Section 486.4(1) of the Criminal Code RESPONDENT'S FACTUM Solicitor for the Appel/ant: Ottawa Agents for the Solicitor for the Appel/ant: GIL D. McKINNON, Q.C. Barrister & Solicitor HENRY S. BROWN, Q.C. 1500 - 701 West Georgia Street Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP Vancouver, B.C. V7Y 1 C6 266 - 160 Elgin Street Tel: (604) 601-5616 PO Box 466, Stn "0" Fax: (604) 601-5617 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1C3 E-mail: [email protected] Tel: (613) 233-1781 Fax: (613)788-3433 E-mail: [email protected] Solicitors for the Respondent: JENNIFER DUNCAN Ottawa Agents for the Solicitors for the ELIZABETH A. CAMPBELL Respondent: Ministry of Attorney General Criminal Appeals ROBERT E. HOUSTON, Q.C. 6th Floor, 865 Hornby Street Burke-Robertson Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2G3 70 Gloucester Street Tel: (604) 660-1126 Ottawa, Ontario K2P OA2 Fax: (604) 660-1133 Tel: (613) 236-9665 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (613) 235-4430 Elizabeth.Campbell@ gov.bc.ca E-mail: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PART I ......................................................................................................................... 1 A. Overview .......................................................................................................... 1 B. The Evidence ...................................................................................................4 i) Chelsea S ................................................................................................4 ii) Gunnar B ..................................................................................................6 iii) The complainant J.M ............................................................................... 7 iv) Randy B ...................................................................................................7 v) Police involvement. ................................................................................... 8 vi) The similar fact voir dire ........................................................................... 8 vii) The positions of counsel ......................................................................... 10 viii) The Reasons on the voir dire ................................................................. 10 ix) The Appellant's evidence at triaL ............................................................ 12 x) The Reasons for Judgment at trial. ......................................................... 13 xi) The Court of Appeal for British Columbia ............................................... 14 PART II ...................................................................................................................... 16 RESPONDENT'S POSITION ON ISSUES ON APPEAL .......................................... 16 PART III ..................................................................................................................... 17 ARGUMENT ...' ........................................................................................................... 17 A. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 17 B. The Admissibility of Similar Fact Evidence ...................................................... 17 C. Probative value versus prejudicial effect.. ....................................................... 21 D. The similar fact voir dire .................................................................................. 26 E. Abuse of process and the principle offinality in litigation ................................ 29 F. Application to the judgments below ................................................................. 34 G. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 36 PART IV .................................................................................................................... 38 COSTS ...................................................................................................................... 38 PART V ..................................................................................................................... 38 ORDER SOUGHT ..................................................................................................... 38 PART VI .................................................................................................................... 39 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ....................................................................................... 39 PART VII ...................................................................................................................41 STATUTORY PROVISIONS .................................................................................... .41 1 PART I A. Overview 1. This appeal engages the interplay between the institutional value of judicial finality in litigation and the admissibility of a disputed, but never appealed, prior conviction as similar fact evidence. The Appellant effectively seeks the creation of a new category of similar fact evidence, the denied prior conviction, which is either inadmissible because it is too prejudicial or in the alternative must be proven again beyond a reasonable doubt as a pre-requisite to its admissibility. The Respondent submits this would constitute a remarkable change to the law governing the admissibility of similar fact evidence. Proven prior conduct, with its corresponding high probative value, would be subjected to a more rigorous standard of admissibility than unproven allegations. 2. The Appellant was charged with one count of sexual assault of J.M. on February 19, 2005 at Winfield, a small community in the Okanagan. The actus reus of the sexual assault was unusual. It consisted of the insertion of a cork into J.M.'s vagina while she was unconscious. 3. The Appellant was tried by Madam Justice Arnold-Bailey, sitting without a jury, in B.C. Supreme Court. On the basis of the facts the trial judge accepted, there were two possible perpetrators of the sexual assault: the Appellant and a man named Randy, whose advanced state of intoxication made him an unlikely candidate for having inserted the cork into J.M.'s vagina. 4. To prove the identity of the offender beyond a reasonable doubt, the Crown applied to lead similar fact evidence concerning the Appellant's 1995 conviction for sexual assault resulting from the insertion of two compacted plastic shopping bags into the vagina of an incapacitated woman. The Appellant was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for that offence and a companion count of robbery. The verdict was not appealed. 2 5. In the proceedings giving rise to this appeal, the Appellant vigorously opposed the admission of his prior conviction as similar fact evidence and a lengthy voir dire ensued. The Crown called several witnesses from the earlier trial (though not the complainant as she had passed away) and demonstrated fingerprints taken from the Appellant following his arrest for the earlier sexual assault matched the fingerprints taken following his arrest in 2005. The defence cross-examined the witnesses extensively. The Appellant did not testify. 6. The trial judge admitted the prior conviction as similar fact evidence on the issue of the identity of J.M.'s assailant. She was satisfied the circumstances of the two occurrences were sufficiently similar for her to conclude, on a balance of probabilities, they were likely the work of one person, in accordance with the first part of the test for admissibility of similar fact evidence to prove identity in R. v. Arp, [1998] 3 S.C.R. 339 at para. 48 [Appellant's Book of Authorities, Tab 5]. The trial judge was also satisfied the prior conviction was proof on a balance of probabilities that the Appellant was the assailant and was thus linked to the prior acts. This latter finding exceeded the requirement in Arp that there be some evidence beyond mere opportunity of a link between the accused and the prior acts: Arp, supra, paras. 53-57. 7. Despite the fact that it was a judge alone trial, the Crown recalled the similar fact evidence during the trial proper. The defence again tested the evidence through cross examination and the Appellant testified. He admitted he had been convicted of the sexual assault of J.S. but denied having committed that offence. He also denied sexually assaulting J.M. The Appellant was convicted of sexual assault of J.M. and sentenced to an indeterminate sentence as a dangerous offender. 8. The Appellant maintains the B.C. Court of Appeal erred in upholding the trial judge's decision to permit the Crown to rely on his prior conviction to link him to the underlying prior conduct. He argues the conviction was inadmissible because it was disputed (notwithstanding that he had never appealed it) and because it was prejudicial. His alternative argument is that an accused should have the right to challenge a prior conviction at the voir dire stage. 3 9. The Respondent submits the B.C. Court of Appeal was correct in finding the prior conviction was admissible to link the Appellant to the prior conduct. The conviction was strong evidence of a link between the