Author Archives: Jeanine Zahara

About Jeanine Zahara

Jeanine Zahara is a 2018 Juris Doctor candidate at the University of Calgary. Jeanine has volunteered her time as a law student assisting marginalized and disadvantaged Calgarians through Student Legal Assistance (SLA) a non-profit legal clinic. SLA has provided Jeanine the opportunity to litigate criminal, civil and family proceedings in Alberta Provincial Court. Jeanine will be commencing a career in criminal defence upon graduation.

Proving Parties to an Offence Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: A Clear Application of Sections 21(1) and 21(2) of the Criminal Code

By: Jeanine Zahara

PDF Version: Proving Parties to an Offence Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: A Clear Application of Sections 21(1) and 21(2) of the Criminal Code

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.

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