Matthew Berg argued the trial judge rejected his evidence simply because he believed the complainant. The Supreme Court of Canada found no error on these facts, but used the case to say that a conviction can never rest only on accepting the complainant's account.
A seven judge majority held the trial judge should have kept Awale Hussein's youth findings and violent convictions from the jury. Yet the evidence on identity and intent was so strong that the Court applied the curative proviso and dismissed the appeal.
R. v. Hussein, 2026 SCC 2 · Ontario · Trial judge error
A babysitter pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing a toddler's death without being told that peer reviewers had found the pathologist's opinions unreasonable. The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction but only stayed the charge. The Supreme Court replaced the stay with an acquittal, splitting five to four on why.
R. v. Bouvette, 2025 SCC 18 · Canada (federal) · Evidence not disclosed, Flawed forensic science, False guilty plea
The Crown refused a judge-alone trial that would have finished on time. The Supreme Court held that the old "transitional" excuse for delay no longer applied, set aside the jury's verdicts and stayed the prosecution for breach of the right to be tried within a reasonable time.
R. v. Hanan, 2023 SCC 12; [2023] 1 SCR 467 · Ontario · Trial judge error
The Crown told the jury Leighton Hay shaved off his dreadlocks after a nightclub shooting. Nobody tested the hair at trial. Years later, forensic experts found the clippings came mainly from his face, and the Supreme Court of Canada admitted that evidence and set aside the convictions.
R. v. Hay, 2013 SCC 61, [2013] 3 S.C.R. 694 · Ontario · Flawed forensic science, Fresh evidence