Youths can be named pending appeal, court rules
News
A group of Nova Scotia media outlets has successfully challenged a ruling that allowed a young man convicted of murdering a cab driver to have his identity shielded pending an appeal of his conviction. The ruling means offenders who are under the age of 18 but sentenced as adults are not entitled to a ban on publishing their names simply because an appeal court may determine they should have been sentenced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Read the CBC News and Halifax Chronicle Herald reports. The Supreme Court of Canada refused in June 2008 to hear the youth’s appeal but gave no reasons. Read the earlier Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruling refusing to ban his identity.
News
A group of Nova Scotia media outlets has successfully challenged a ruling that allowed a young man convicted of murdering a cab driver to have his identity shielded pending an appeal of his conviction. The ruling means offenders who are under the age of 18 but sentenced as adults are not entitled to a ban on publishing their names simply because an appeal court may determine they should have been sentenced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Read the CBC News and Halifax Chronicle Herald reports. The Supreme Court of Canada refused in June 2008 to hear the youth’s appeal but gave no reasons. Read the earlier Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruling refusing to ban his identity.
June 18, 2008
The Supreme Court refusing
The Supreme Court refusing leave to appeal does not render the decision binding in the rest of Canada. The ruling is only binding in the province in which it was heard. It is of persuasive value if the issue arises in other Canadian jurisdictions but the court would be free to decide differently. The fact the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal would also be taken into consideration.