In a bold and admirable ruling, Justice Anne Molloy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the mandatory three year jail term that was a result of the Conservative government's 2008 Tackling Violent Crime Act, declaring that to impose a three-year jail sentence for Mr. Leroy Smickle would be "fundamentally unfair, outrageous, abhorrent, and intolerable." Mr. Smickle was sitting in his underwear on a couch in his cousin's apartment playing with a loaded revolver and making remarks about his manly qualities into a webcam hooked up to his laptop computer, while posting pictures of himself to his facebook account.…
No Ecstasy for Ecstasy Induced Psychosis
Has the Supreme Court Tightened the NCRMD Defense or further Muddied the Waters? Mr. Joseph Neuberger LL.B., LL.M., and Dr. Julian Gojer M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P.C., J.D. The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled in Bouchard-Lebrun [1] that a drug induced psychosis or a toxic psychotic state is not a Mental Disorder. The appellant in this case had brutally assaulted two individuals while he was in a psychotic condition purportedly caused by ecstasy consumed a few hours earlier causing serious and permanent harm to a victim. He was convicted by the Court [2] on two counts of aggravated assault and assault and tried unsuccessfully on appeal to…
