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Case information

Conduct a refined search of the Supreme Court of Canada database to obtain details on the status of a matter before the Court.


32202

Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe v. Her Majesty the Queen

(Alberta) (Criminal) (As of Right)

Docket

Judgments on applications for leave to appeal are rendered by the Court, but are not necessarily unanimous.

List of proceedings
Date Proceeding Filed By
(if applicable)
2008-05-01 Transcript received, (40 pages)
2008-04-21 Appeal closed
2008-04-18 Formal judgment sent to the registrar of the court of appeal and all parties
2008-04-18 Judgment on appeal and notice of deposit of judgment sent to all parties
2008-04-17 Judgment on the appeal rendered, CJ LeB De F Abe, The appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Alberta (Calgary), Number 0401-0347-A, 2007 ABCA 236, dated July 13, 2007, was heard this day and the following judgment was rendered:
The Chief Justice (orally) — We are all of the view that the appeal should be allowed. Substantially for the reasons given by Fraser C.J.A., we conclude that the trial judge’s instructions on planning and deliberation, including repeated references to capacity, may have confused the jury about the role of the accused’s intoxication in assessing the intent, planning and deliberation required for first degree murder. We are unable to conclude that the result would necessarily be the same but for these errors, and therefore would decline to apply the curative proviso. We would therefore allow the appeal and order a new trial.
Allowed
2008-04-17 Judgment on the appeal rendered, CJ LeB De F Abe
Allowed
2008-04-17 Appellant's condensed book, Submitted in Court (14 copies) Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe
2008-04-17 Acknowledgement and consent for video taping of proceedings, From all parties
2008-04-17 Hearing of the appeal, 2008-04-17, CJ LeB De F Abe
Judgment rendered
2008-04-02 Notice of appearance, Jennifer Ruttan and Michael Bates will be present at the hearing. Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe
2008-04-02 Notice of appearance, Goran Tomljanovic, Q.C. will be present at the hearing. Her Majesty the Queen
2008-02-28 Notice of hearing sent to parties
2008-02-28 Appeal hearing scheduled, 2008-04-17
Judgment rendered
2008-02-01 Respondent's book of authorities, (13 copies rec'd), Completed on: 2008-02-01 Her Majesty the Queen
2008-02-01 Respondent's record, (6 copies rec'd), Completed on: 2008-02-01 Her Majesty the Queen
2008-02-01 Respondent's factum, (14 copies rec'd), Completed on: 2008-02-01 Her Majesty the Queen
2008-01-16 Appeal perfected for hearing
2007-11-21 Appellant's book of authorities, (CD rec'd Nov. 23/07 - New CD rec'd April 10/08), Completed on: 2007-11-21 Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe
2007-11-21 Appellant's record, (14 copies of Vol. I and 6 copies of Vol. II - 2 CD rec'd Nov. 23/07), Completed on: 2007-11-21 Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe
2007-11-21 Appellant's factum, (rec'd 14 copies), Completed on: 2007-11-21 Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe
2007-09-28 Correspondence (sent by the Court) to, all parties; re: electronic appeal hearing pilot
2007-09-19 Letter advising the parties of tentative hearing date and filing deadlines (Notice of appeal – As of right)
2007-08-30 Notice of appeal, (CD of NOA and Certificat of Counsel rec'd Nov. 30/07), Completed on: 2007-08-30 Roseanne Andrea Turningrobe

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

Main parties - Appellants
Name Role Status
Turningrobe, Roseanne Andrea Appellant Active

v.

Main parties - Respondents
Name Role Status
Her Majesty the Queen Respondent Active

Counsel

Party: Turningrobe, Roseanne Andrea

Counsel
Jennifer Ruttan
Michael Bates
Ruttan Bates
711, 237 - 8th Avenue S.E.
Calgary, Alberta
T3G 5C3
Telephone: (403) 266-4640
FAX: (403) 266-4606
Email: jr@ruttanbates.com
Agent
Marie-France Major
Lang Michener LLP
300 - 50 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6L2
Telephone: (613) 232-7171
FAX: (613) 231-3191
Email: mmajor@langmichener.ca

Party: Her Majesty the Queen

Counsel
Goran Tomljanovic, Q.C.
Attorney General of Alberta
Appeals Branch
300, 332 - 6 Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 0B2
Telephone: (403) 297-5241
FAX: (403) 297-3453
Email: goran.tomljanovic@gov.ab.ca
Agent
Henry S. Brown, Q.C.
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP
2600 - 160 Elgin St
P.O. Box 466, Stn "D"
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1C3
Telephone: (613) 233-1781
FAX: (613) 788-3433
Email: henry.brown@gowlings.com

Summary

Keywords

None.

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.

Criminal law - Intoxication - Charge to the jury - Whether the charge to the jury was erroneous in law due to the failure to review the material evidence, including failing to review the evidence as it relates to the meaning of a planned and deliberate murder and failing to review the material evidence on intoxication - Whether the charge to the jury was erroneous in law regarding the intoxication defence and specifically that it effectively reversed the burden on the intoxication defence, confused the “capacity” to plan and deliberate with “actual” planning and deliberation, and confused “capacity” to form intent with intention in “fact”.

The victim, Jordena Baptiste, had been spending time with Dennis Wildman. Wildman had been going out with Glenna Goodstoney. Goodstoney was upset about Baptiste and Wildman’s relationship and, on August 9, 2003, attacked Baptiste. The next day, on August 10, Goodstoney, Wildman, Baptiste and Roseanne Turningrobe, the Appellant, were at a party at the Wildman residence. Goodstoney again attacked Baptiste, but the fight was broken up. Turningrobe, who was 18 years of age at the time, drank alcohol during the day of and at the party. Goodstoney asked Turningrobe to attack Baptiste and later asked her to kill Baptiste. In her videotaped statement to the police, Turningrobe said she was encouraged by Goodstoney who said, “I’ll respect you and stuff.” Turningrobe then stated, “I don’t know I just ended up doing it.”

Turningrobe obtained a knife from the kitchen in the Wildman residence, showed it to some of the other young women at the party and stated that she was “going to stab her” (i.e., Baptiste). Witnesses estimated she had the knife for 10 to 15 minutes before the attack on Baptiste. Upon leaving the party, Baptiste and Wildman were followed by Goodstoney and Turningrobe. While Goodstoney prevented Wildman from interfering, Turningrobe ran after and caught up with Baptiste, and stabbed her 15 times. The Appellant was convicted by a jury of first degree murder. On appeal, the appeal was dismissed. Fraser C.J.A., dissenting, would have allowed the appeal on the basis that the charge to the jury was erroneous in law due to the failure to review the material evidence and regarding the intoxication defence.

Lower court rulings

October 22, 2004
Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta

030934020Q1

See file

July 13, 2007
Court of Appeal of Alberta (Calgary)

0401-0347-A, 2007 ABCA 236

See file

Memorandums of argument on application for leave to appeal

The memorandums of argument on an application for leave to appeal will be posted here 30 days after leave to appeal has been granted 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 the memorandum by filing 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 memorandum of argument or want to use a memorandum of argument, please contact the author of the memorandum of argument directly. Their name appears at the end of the memorandum of argument. The contact information for counsel is found in the “Counsel” tab of this page.

Downloadable PDFs

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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.

Downloadable PDFs

Not available

Webcasts

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Date modified: 2025-05-13