Criminal LawINTRO TO DEFENCES – DAY 2

Let’s Review yesterday…

A Defence is … How is the defence of mental disorder different from the defence of automatism? What does the accused need to prove when using intoxication as a defence?

Today…

We will review defences for an accused and their justifications

Defences for an Accused – Justifications

1. Self-Defence You can defend yourself from an unprovoked attack The force has to be reasonable – can only be enough to fend off the attack

**Limitation: has to be no intent to cause harm/death and there does not have to be physical use of forceNote – only in your own home can you use as much force as necessary to prevent entry

 

Defences for an Accused – Justifications

2. Necessity Accused had no other choice but to commit the criminal act

**Accused must show: Act was done to avoid greater harm No opportunity for alternative action Harm inflicted must be less than harm avoided

Necessity CaseAn Ontario woman accused of abducting her children, who are eight-year-old triplets, was found not guilty Friday "by reason of necessity."

Ms. Vandelnelsen became an international fugitive when she abducted her seven-year-old triplets and fled to Mexico. She put the triplets in the back of her car to cross the US Border

Ms. Vandenelsen testified that she fled with the children because she feared she was about to have her access to them terminated at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 23 as only her husband has custody at that time

She argued that being deprived of their mother would cause the triplets irreparable harm, and thus, she was trying to protect them by spiriting them away

Canada's Criminal Code states parents who abduct their children to protect them from imminent harm can be found not guilty by reason of necessity.

Defences for an Accused – Justifications

3. Duress Accused is forced to do a criminal act by threat of violence

**2 conditions must exist: “Threatener” has to be physically present when the crime is

committed Accused must believe death or bodily harm would be inflicted

immediately from “threatener”. Accused felt he/she had no other choice

**Defence excludes murder

Duress Case (R. v. Ruzic)Ruzic was charged with importing heroin

Ruzic argued that she was acting under duress after a person threatened to kill her mother (who lived in a foreign country)

She was not allowed to use the defense of duress because the threat was not immediate

Defences for an Accused – Justifications

4. Provocation Any act or insult that causes someone to lose control in the ‘heat of the moment’ Applies only to murder charges If the defence is accepted, the charge will be reduced to manslaughter

Provocation - Case R v. TranCaught his wife cheating on himStabbed lover and slashed wifeClaimed provocation Denied

◦ Went to kitchen to get knives◦ Not “an insult” the Criminal Code outlines

Defences for an Accused – Justifications

Read in your textbook and fill in the rest of the criminal defences chart Alibi Mistake of Fact NCR (Mental Disorder) Entrapment Double Jeopardy Battered Woman Syndrome