Case information
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40090
Ryan David Clark v. His Majesty the King
(Saskatchewan) (Criminal) (As of Right)
Docket
Judgments on applications for leave to appeal are rendered by the Court, but are not necessarily unanimous.
Date | Proceeding | Filed By (if applicable) |
---|---|---|
2023-01-13 | Appeal closed | |
2022-12-12 | Transcript received, 48 pages | |
2022-12-01 | Formal judgment sent to the registrar of the court of appeal and all parties | |
2022-12-01 | Judgment on appeal and notice of deposit of judgment sent to all parties | |
2022-11-30 |
Judgment on the appeal rendered, Ka Côt Br Mar Kas, The appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, Number CACR3188, 2022 SKCA 36, dated March 17, 2022, was heard on November 30, 2022, and the Court on that day delivered the following judgment orally: KARAKATSANIS J. — We agree with Justice Leurer, in dissent, that a specific Hibbert type instruction (R. v. Hibbert, 2002 SCC 39, [2002] 2 S.C.R. 445) was required in the circumstances of this case. The appeal is allowed, substantially for the reasons of Justice Leurer. The conviction is set aside and a new trial ordered. Allowed |
|
2022-11-30 |
Hearing of the appeal, 2022-11-30, Ka Côt Br Mar Kas Decision rendered |
|
2022-11-28 | Respondent's condensed book, (Book Form), (Printed version filed on 2022-11-28) | His Majesty the King |
2022-11-28 | Appellant's condensed book, (Book Form), (Printed version filed on 2022-11-28) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-11-08 | Notice of appearance, (Letter Form), Erin Bartsch will appear before the Court and will present oral argument., (Printed version due on 2022-11-16) | His Majesty the King |
2022-11-08 | Correspondence (sent by the Court) to, all parties; Letter of direction relating to upcoming hearing | |
2022-11-07 | Notice of appearance, (Letter Form), Bruce K. Campbell and Edward Sacher will appear before the Court. Bruce K. Campbell will present oral argument, (Printed version due on 2022-11-15) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-08-03 | Respondent's factum, (Book Form), Completed on: 2022-08-04, (Printed version filed on 2022-08-03) | His Majesty the King |
2022-08-03 | Certificate (on limitations to public access), 23A | His Majesty the King |
2022-08-03 | Certificate of counsel (attesting to record), 24B | His Majesty the King |
2022-08-03 | Respondent's record, (Book Form), Completed on: 2022-08-04, (Printed version filed on 2022-08-03) | His Majesty the King |
2022-06-28 | Notice of change of counsel, (Letter Form), (Printed version due on 2022-07-06) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-06-28 | Notice of hearing sent to parties | |
2022-06-28 |
Appeal hearing scheduled, 2022-11-30 Decision rendered |
|
2022-06-14 | Letter advising the parties of tentative hearing date and filing deadlines (Leave granted), (sent to parties by email on 2022-06-15) | |
2022-06-08 | Appellant's record, (Book Form), (3 volumes), Completed on: 2022-06-22, (Printed version filed on 2022-06-08) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-06-08 | Certificate of counsel (attesting to record), (Letter Form), 24A, (Printed version filed on 2022-06-08) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-06-08 | Appellant's factum, (Book Form), Completed on: 2022-06-15, (Printed version filed on 2022-06-08) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-04-21 | Letter acknowledging receipt of a notice of appeal, FILE OPENED 2022-04-21 | |
2022-04-14 | Certificate (on limitations to public access), (Letter Form), (Printed version filed on 2022-04-14) | Ryan David Clark |
2022-04-14 |
Notice of appeal, (Letter Form), Required: - TC judgment - TC Order, Completed on: 2022-04-21, (Printed version filed on 2022-04-14) |
Ryan David Clark |
Parties
Please note that in the case of closed files, the “Status” column reflects the status of the parties at the time of the proceedings. For more information about the proceedings and about the dates when the file was open, please consult the docket of the case in question.
Main parties
Name | Role | Status |
---|---|---|
Clark, Ryan David | Appellant | Active |
v.
Name | Role | Status |
---|---|---|
His Majesty the King | Respondent | Active |
Counsel
Party: Clark, Ryan David
Counsel
Edward F. Sacher
102 - 2400 College Avenue
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 1C8
Telephone: (306) 787-1141
FAX: (306) 787-2316
Email: bcampbell@legalaid.sk.ca
Agent
1800 - 275 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5H9
Telephone: (613) 691-1224
FAX: (613) 691-1338
Email: mdillon@supremelawgroup.ca
Party: His Majesty the King
Counsel
300 - 1874 Scarth Street
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 4B3
Telephone: (306) 787-5490
FAX: (306) 787-8878
Email: erin.bartsch@gov.sk.ca
Agent
160 Elgin Street
Suite 2600
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1C3
Telephone: (613) 786-8695
FAX: (613) 788-3509
Email: lynne.watt@gowlingwlg.com
Summary
Keywords
Criminal law — Charge to jury — Eyewitness evidence — Identification — In-court identification — Caution — Whether the trial judge erred in not providing an adequate jury instruction or caution alerting jurors that a witness’s testimony had limited value for the purposes of identifying the assailant who killed the victim, and that this witness’s in court identification of the appellant had no evidentiary value — Whether the trial judge erred in not providing an adequate jury instruction or caution on the problematic nature of another witness’s in-court identification of the appellant, and that it would be dangerous to attribute to this identification any degree of certainty greater than what she had communicated to police prior — Whether the majority of the Court of Appeal erred in law by concluding the instructions on eyewitness identification evidence did not give rise to reversible legal error.
Summary
Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.
Before the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, the appellant, Ryan David Clark, was convicted by a jury of second degree murder. The main issue at trial was the identity of the person who had beaten the deceased to death.
On appeal, Mr. Clark argued that the trial judge erred by failing to address the frailties of eyewitness evidence in his instructions to the jury, particularly with regard to in-court identification by two witnesses. He also argued that the trial judge erred by allowing other witnesses to provide bad character and post-offence conduct evidence and by failing to adequately caution the jury in relation to that testimony and that the verdict was unreasonable. A majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The jury instructions properly equipped the jury to understand its task in evaluating all of the eyewitness identification evidence, including the in-court identification. It was adequately prepared to examine the frailties of the evidence of the two particular witnesses and to determine if it would accept their testimony as credible and reliable in accordance with the law. The trial judge also did not err in regard to post-offence conduct and bad character evidence and the verdict was not unreasonable.
In dissent, Leurer J.A. would have allowed Mr. Clark’s appeal and ordered a new trial. In his view, the jury charge did not adequately equip the jurors to deal with the frailties of the in-court eyewitness identification evidence in this case.
Lower court rulings
Court of Queen’s Bench of Saskatchewan
Conviction for second degree murder
Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
2022 SKCA 36, CACR3188
Appeal dismissed
Memorandums of argument on application for leave to appeal
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Related links
Factums on appeal
The factums of the appellant, the respondent and the intervener will be posted here at least 2 weeks before the hearing unless they contain personal information, information that is subject to a publication ban, or any other information that is not part of the public record. You may also obtain copies of factums by filling out the Request for Court records form or by contacting the Court’s Records Centre either by email at records-dossiers@scc-csc.ca or by telephone at 613‑996‑7933 or at 1‑888‑551‑1185.
If you have questions about a factum or want permission to use a factum, please contact the author of the factum directly. Their contact information appears on the first page of each factum.
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