Criminal law

The trial

What is an appeal?

An appeal is the mechanism for contesting a judge’s decision before a higher court. It can be used by either the defence or the prosecution.

The youth justice system allows adolescents to appeal decisions rendered in youth court, such as a guilty verdict or an excessive sentence.

The Crown attorney can also appeal a youth court decision, but she must be prepared to show that the judge’s decision contained a significant error of law.

What kinds of decisions can be appealed?

The law provides that guilty or not guilty verdicts, as well as the sentences that are handed down by a youth court, can be appealed.

It is possible to appeal other judicial decisions as well. Some examples are as follows:

• The decision to impose an adult sentence on a youth;
  
• The decision which determines the place of detention of a young person serving an adult sentence;
  
• A guilty verdict for contempt of court;
  
• The decision that defines an offence as being serious and violent in nature.

Which court hears appeals?

Which court hears the appeal depends on the type of offence that was considered at trial in the first place. If it is a summary offence (for example, shoplifting), the appeal will be heard in the Superior Court of Quebec. This is where Olivia’s appeal will go.

If the case concerns an indictable offence (for example, robbery, murder, attempted murder), the person who wishes to appeal must file directly with the Court of Appeal of Quebec.

Every Canadian province has a superior court and a court of appeal, although they may go by different names. Some cases may go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in the country. The Supreme Court’s decisions are final, which means they cannot be appealed.

At what point in time can a decision be appealed?

First of all, you can only appeal after a decision has been rendered by a judge in youth court (trial court). Normally, the time limit for filing an appeal is 30 days from the date of that decision. This applies both to the verdict and to the sentencing decision.

However, upon special request, an extension on this time limit might be granted if there are good reasons for doing so.

Are there any decisions that cannot be appealed?

Most of the decisions that a judge renders in connection with a young person can be appealed.

Certain decisions cannot be appealed, however. For example, one cannot appeal a revised sentence that was imposed after a sentencing review process.

The review of a sentence is a process that allows the court, after a certain time period has passed or for reasons provided by law, to reconsider a sentence that was imposed on an adolescent. The court can, after this review, either confirm the sentence that was handed down, cancel it, or modify it to make it less severe. To learn more on this subject, you can consult the Infosheet entitled A sentence that stands up to review.

Am I sure to win if I appeal my case?

No, it doesn’t work that way! The court of appeal will only reverse the decision of the lower court if it finds that the judge made an error that was serious enough to have affected the ultimate outcome of the case. In general, the court of appeal will only intervene in the lower court’s decision if it finds obvious errors, but not if the two courts simply have a minor difference of opinion. The court of appeal can render one of the following decisions:

• Allow the appeal and cancel the verdict and sentence imposed by the trial (or lower) court;
  
• Reject the appeal;
  
• Send the matter back to lower court for a new trial;
  
• Render any other decision required to achieve justice.