CRIMINAL COURT APPEAL LAWYER ONTARIO CONVICTION SENTENCE BAIL APPEAL COUNSEL TORONTO OTTAWA HAMILTON KITCHENER LONDON OSHAWA WINDSOR KINGSTON SUDBURY BRAMPTON BARRIE AVOCAT APPEL CRIMINEL COUR
WHY APPEAL YOUR CRIMINAL CONVICTION OR SENTENCE?
A criminal appeal gives you a chance at having:
your conviction overturned, an acquitted substituted, and you walk away with no criminal record;
your conviction overturned, and a new trial is ordered;
your sentence reduced, lowering any time of imprisonment, reducing fines, eliminating any ancillary orders.
The firm has extensive experience successfully arguing criminal conviction and sentence appeals in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Court of Appeal for Ontario, and Supreme Court of Canada. The firm's Senior Barrister Gordon S. Campbell served as appellate counsel with the Federal Prosecution Service of the Department of Justice Canada, articled at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Constitutional Law Division, as is the author of three criminal law books published by Carswell Thomson Reuters and Les Éditions Yvon Blais. The firm will explore every potential aspect a viable criminal appeal for you to maximize your appeal prospects of success.
Ontario Criminal Appeal Lawyer
The firm has a particular focus on criminal appeals, both to the Ontario Superior Court for summary conviction offences tried in the Ontario Court of Justice, and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario for indictable offences tried in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. We also pursue appeals and leave to appeal applications for clients before the Supreme Court of Canada. The firm’s Senior Barrister Lawyer Gordon Scott Campbell has over three decades of experience with appeals, and understands the careful combination of legal and factual arguments that must be woven together with the precisely articulated for a criminal appeal to succeed.
a. You've Almost Always Got an Appeal Route for a Criminal Conviction
Because of the importance governments place on avoiding miscarriages of criminal justice, regardless of what level of court you've been convicted by you'll almost always have an appeal route to some kind of appellate court.
b. Seeking Bail Pending Appeal Requires Significant Advance Preparation
The best tactic for ensuring you don't needlessly serve time in prison for a trial result that could be successfully appealed is to retain an appeals lawyer to start putting together a bail pending appeal application prior to any sentence being imposed. You'll usually (but not always) have some time between a conviction and sentencing to do this. Advance preparation means the bail pending appeal application can be filed immediately upon any jail time being imposed, and you might only spend a few days (at most) rather than a few weeks in jail while an appellate court considers if bail can be granted pending hearing of the appeal.
Contested appeal bail pending appeal hearings are entirely winnable, but require a strong release plan, including affidavits from sureties, detailed explanations of proposed living and working arrangements, and possibly a significant cash deposit with the court, as the presumption of innocence no longer applies after conviction. Thus the earlier this appeal bail hearing preparation starts prior to trial sentencing, the earlier you might be released from custody.
c. The Conviction Appeal Process
A conviction appeal involves striking at the heart of the trial court's findings of law and fact which led to a conviction. We'll meticulously comb through the trial record, including every word uttered in the trial transcripts and every page of exhibits, to identify appealable weaknesses from the trial. Examples of trial errors that may be appealable by way of a conviction appeal include:
evidence improperly admitted at trial like statements or physical evidence;
truly incredible testimony that was incorrectly found at trial to be credible;
search warrant or wiretap authorizations that should have been struck down as illegal at trial;
improper trial judge instructions to a jury;
violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that were brushed aside at trial;
a trial judge misapprehending the evidence or misconstruing the legal elements of the offence.
d. The Sentence Appeal Process
A sentence appeal can proceed in conjunction with a conviction appeal, or independently where success on challenging conviction is unlikely because of overwhelming evidence, but the sentence imposed was harsh, excessive, and outside the range of permissible sanctions. A stand-alone sentence appeal may require "leave" to appeal.
Criminal sentencing is all about being appropriately within "the range" for both the offence and offender in similar cases. If a sentence lands outside of the range - too many days or months or years imprisonment, too high of a fine, inappropriate restitution or forfeiture orders, refusal to consider a discharge or suspended sentence or a conditional sentence, ignoring relevant personal factors like Indigenous status - you may have a successful appeal. A sentence appeal can make the difference between years needlessly spent in jail or tens of thousands of dollars in excessive fines or forfeiture and a "just" sentence.
The Criminal Appeal Lawyers
Gordon S. Campbell as the firm's Senior Barrister has the experience to provide you with the strongest defence:
served as a Federal Crown Prosecutor (in five provinces in one territory), Assistant Crown Attorney and provincial offences prosecutor;
acted as legal advisor to the Ontario Provincial Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Military Police Complaints Commission and municipal police services on investigations, statement taking, search and seizure, and charge drafting;
created and instructed police officer courses on search warrant drafting and statement taking, including at RCMP Depot training academy;
author of three criminal law books;
editor of a Carswell newsletter on regulatory offences;
consulting editor of police officer field notebook publications used throughout Canada.
He now advocates for private clients charged with serious federal and provincial offences at trial and on appeal up to the level of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is assisted by other lawyers and law clerks of the firm.
WHAT ARE MY ODDS OF WINNING A CRIMINAL APPEAL IN ONTARIO?
Statistics suggest your odds of winning a criminal appeal in Ontario on at least some basis are about 1 in 3. Those aren’t bad odds, and actually are the best odds of any type of appeal (as compared to civil or family appeals). Winning here does not, however, necessarily mean being acquitted of all your charges by the Court of Appeal, though that is a possibility.
Winning would also mean having a new trial ordered, or even having your sentence reduced where convictions are upheld.
WHAT ARE MY ODDS OF MY CRIMINAL CASE GOING TO THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA?
Unlike other types of appeals, in the criminal law realm some appeal will automatically win a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, though those are fairly rare. In addition to those appeals as of right, the SCC has a high rate of granting leave to appeal to criminal cases throughout Canada, because of the fundamental justice, privacy and liberty interests that criminal cases typically engage. Though the harsh overall statics is that only about 1 in 10 of all types of cases (civil, family, criminal) that apply for leave to appeal actually get leave.
Becuase of the SCC’s interest in criminal cases, your odds of getting leave in criminal appeal could be better than 1 in 10, but unfortunately probably not a lot better. The key to getting leave is to show not just error of law, but rather to demonstrate that your case involves an issue of national public importance. Especially one that the SCC hasn’t pronounced on before, or where it’s been a long time since the SCC has considered the issue, and there may have been a social change of societal norms since that time.
HOW MUCH DOES A CRIMINAL APPEAL COST IN ONTARIO?
A criminal appeal in Ontario may cost more or less than the criminal trial cost in legal fees, depending upon how lengthy and complex the trial was. Very simple criminal trials involving a day in court could wind up with higher appeal costs, as there are many steps to a criminal appeal which will take a criminal appellate lawyer many days of work. Whereas very complex criminal trials which proceeded over many months in court could cost significantly less to appeal than the trial cost, as appears don’t require months of preparation - although they could involve weeks of work.
Bail Review in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice - typically block fee of $10,000 plus HST and disbursements, this will usually involve up to a day in court, plus a number of days of preparation.
Summary Conviction Appeal to Ontario Superior Court of Justice - typically block fee of $15,000 plus HST and disbursements, this will usually involve up to a day in court, plus a number of days of preparation, but could involve lengthier transcripts and exhibits to study depending upon the length of the trial. Fees may be higher for more complex matters.
Indictable Appeal to Court of Appeal for Ontario - typically block fee of $30,000 plus HST and disbursements, but fees will be higher for appeals of complex lengthy trials, this will usually involved up to a day in court, and many days of preparation.
Bail Pending Appeal Application - typically block fee of $5,000 plus HST
We do not charge for any additional travel time or disbursements for block fee criminal appeals anywhere in Ontario, any required travel would be included in the block fee you are quoted.