By: Jeanine Zahara
Case Commented On: R v Hardy, 2017 ABQB 588 (CanLII)
The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench released a decision on 2 October 2017 which directly applied the law on parties to an offence to the evidence heard at trial. In R v Hardy, Tamra Hardy and her brother Cody Hardy were co-charged with manslaughter contrary to s 236(b) of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence contrary to s 348(1)(a) of the Criminal Code and robbery contrary to 344(1)(b) of the Criminal Code. Cody Hardy pled guilty to manslaughter prior to Tamra Hardy’s trial. Furthermore, while Tamra pled not guilty to the charge of break and enter with intent to commit theft, at the end of her trial she “invited a conviction on” s 348(1) (a) of the Criminal Code (at para 113) and a conviction was entered on that count She did dispute her criminal liability for the robbery and manslaughter, however, which turned on whether she was a party to these offences.