WDW101Y1 Lecture Notes - Superior Court, Summary Offence, Indictable Offence
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Wdw325 – 15/03/2012
Slide 1
Bail:
Section 11(e) of the charter:
Any person charged with an offence has the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just
cause
You are held in custody even though you are presumed innocent.
Denial of bail has a significant impact on the outcome of the case. People denied bails are more
likely to be convicted. Probably because there are stronger cases against them or because you
are in custody during your trial it is harder to prepare a case. Significantly restricts contact with
your counsel.
Limits your ability to prepare for defense.
Bail is significant but happens very quickly. Within an hour of your arrest you get a bail hearing.
READ ALL OF SECTION 515
Sec515(1) creates a presumption that an accused will get bail.
The justice shall unless a plea of guilty is pleaded by the accused must order that the accused
be released….
Sec 469 VERY IMP.
Presumption that JP will release at the least onerous conditions.
Release with no conditions.
Ladder effect of bail.
First condition is release without any condition at all. Show up to court when required.
2nd rung on the ladder is a recognisance with an undertaking that you are released but you will
comply with certain conditions; curfew, no possession of drugs or fire arms, not talking to
certain people.
3rd step up is release on a recognisance with conditions and with sureties. The person who
pledges a certain amount of money on the accused and say I will supervise and ensure that the
accused will come to court when required and comply with the conditions of the bail. All the
sureties have to do is show that they have the cash or assets worth that much. You do not give
the money to anyone unless the person breaches any condition of the bail.
If the accused is not an ordinarily resident within 200km of jurisdiction then you have to pay
them instead of just pledging the money.
Last step on the ladder is detention. When the court decides that none of the other options
would satisfy bail conditions then you are detained.
Justice of the Peace (JP) must consider or reject release before imposing more restrictive
manner of release.
Grounds of releasing someone or detaining someone. What must the crown show. Crown has
to justify any restrictions on a person. 3 grounds. Set out in sec 515 (10)
Sec 515(10)(a) where the detention is necessary to ensure his/her attendance in court. (primary
ground) – are you normally resident in Canada. Can you flee if released. Have you in the past
proven yourself not to appear in court. Evidence that you have a lot of money or multiple
passports. Offshore bank accounts? Ties to Canada or jurisdiction of where crime was
committed.
(b) “….. for protection of public….”: necessary to impose conditions to prevent witness from
being threatened or influenced. If there is a evidence for the crown o show you are going to
tamper with a witness then there will be conditions imposed.
(c) “….. to maintain confidence in the admin of the justice…” this decision is made within 12 hrs
of your arrest. Before anyone has had any right to discover anything. Court must consider
inherent truth of crowns case.
The more serious the charged the more outrage by public if they are released on bail. The more
serious the crime the more easier it is for police to prove why bail should be denied.
Harper govt tough on crime strategy- if fire arms are involved tertiary ground can be used.
Anyone of primary, secondary or tertiary grounds can be used to justify either the imposition of
conditions or detention.
What conditions can the court impose of bail.