VIDEOTAPE EVIDENCE - ERASED DETACHMENT VIDEO DOES NOT RESULT IN A STAY

The Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan had earlier set aside a judicial stay and remitted a matter back to trial in a case where an RCMP detachment video had been erased (see January 28, 2012 blog entry).  Now the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has not granted leave to defence to appeal that decision:

[The Crown appeal was allowed on] the basis that there was no evidence before the trial court at that time that the erased video had contained content related to whether Mr. Gilchrist had been given his right to counsel and there was no evidence generally demonstrating how the contents of the video might have been relevant or useful to Mr. Gilchrist in making full answer and defence to the charges. The Crown argues that leave to appeal should be denied in this case because the summary conviction appeal court judge said nothing more than Mr. Gilchrist had failed to prove the missing evidence was relevant and had failed to demonstrate why a stay was appropriate.  The Crown submits that even if Mr. Gilchrist’s appeal raises a question of law, that question of law has little real significance beyond the facts of this case. This is an appeal where there is only a modest chance of success and the questions of law raised by Mr. Gilchrist are not of sufficient importance to warrant granting of leave.  Leave to appeal is therefore denied. R. v. Gilchrist, 2013 SKCA 142