Robson Crim Legal Blog

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) describes hearsay as an out of court statement admitted for the truth of its contents. Hearsay is presumptively inadmissible, meaning that it is not to be admitted as evidence in a trial unless it satisfies certain exceptions established by the courts. R v Schneider provides a recent example of the court considering exceptions to the hearsay rule. It centres on the admission of an overheard phone conversation where the accused admitted respon

Can a phone conversation between a man and his wife, overheard in part by the man’s brother, be admitted as evidence that the man committed murder? What if the brother who overheard the conversation had been drinking, was under extreme stress, and recalled two different versions of what was said? This was the complex issue faced by Canada’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC), in R v Schneider. William Schneider was charged with the second- degree murder of Natsu

It can be easy to underestimate the role which the law of evidence plays in the criminal justice system. One may think that evidence is a straightforward and simple matter; the facts are the facts, and the accused is guilty or not, plain and simple. However, the law of evidence is anything but. Especially when potential wrongful convictions hang in the balance, the stakes could not be higher. R v. Schneider is indicative of how complicated and significant the law of evidenc