Articles of Interest
Articles of interest from criminal defence lawyer David G. Bayliss. Read about criminal law, murder, sexual assault, dui, drunk driving, prison reform, criminal harassment, police reform and more. David G. Bayliss has achieved outstanding victories for clients facing all types of criminal charges. Bayliss has over 30 years of experience in all areas of criminal law, but most of his practice focuses on defending people facing charges of murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, drug trafficking and drug possession. He also has a strong interest in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, police misconduct and quality legal defence for all people.
Vehicle Searches under the Ontario Cannabis Control Act
By: David G. Bayliss – May, 2024. The Dark Side of Legal Pot Prior to the legalization of Cannabis products by the federal government on October 17, 2018, marijuana possession investigations were a significant component of community policing by Ontario police forces. Between 2003 and 2013, more than 27,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in the city of Toronto alone. https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/toronto-marijuana-arrests-reveal-startling-racial-divide/article_927e1942-c817-5067-b41c-1712fc0b8349.html The mere smell of marijuana entitled police officers to investigate drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike. Often the object of such investigations was not enforcement of cannabis laws at all but, rather, a mechanism for investigation of other [...]
Disclosure of Police Records to Third Parties in Ontario
By: David G. Bayliss – August 31, 2019. RECORDS DISCLOSURE IN ONTARIO[1] The disclosure to third parties of an individual’s police records has become exponentially more problematic with the advent of interconnected digital databases. With today’s ease of storage and access to personal records, disclosure of private information in the hands of law enforcement agencies takes very little effort. As supply begets demand, everyone is asking for background checks—employers, volunteer organizations, social clubs, landlords, educational institutions etc. Companies specializing in facilitating the hunger for candidate background information proliferate. The number of police records being disclosed to third parties in [...]
Child Pornography Investigations, Prosecutions and Defences in Canada
By: David G. Bayliss - August 17, 2019. INVESTIGATIONS, PROSECUTIONS AND DEFENCES[1] Introduction The incidence of child pornography (CP) has escalated dramatically with the advent of the internet. As one Ontario Superior Court Judge recently observed: 26 In a pre-internet world, the ability of people inclined towards pedophilia to find like-minded individuals, share experiences, cultivate their fantasies and seek access to victims was naturally constrained by the isolation imposed by their relatively small numbers and by the very great fear of the consequences of discovery. 27 Modern technology has considerably blunted both restraints. The internet has largely defeated the former isolation [...]
Convicting Jian Ghomeshi will be hard — for good reason
By: Breese Davies Published on Tue Feb 02 2016 | © Toronto Star. Calls to make it 'easier' to secure convictions in cases of sexual assault are dangerously antithetical to basic tenets of our justice system With Jian Ghomeshi about to face a packed courtroom and a daily gauntlet of jostling reporters, the stage is set for a media spectacle. Columnists will take sides. Legal pundits will pontificate. Many will be caught up in the did-he-or-didn’t-he debate and rhetoric. But, when all is said and done — after the former CBC broadcaster is acquitted or convicted — will the [...]
The U.S. Is Quietly Exonerating 3 People a Week
By Samuel Lieberman, Daily Intelligencer February 3, 2016 11:11 a.m. It's not just Making a Murderer's Steven Avery. A report released on Wednesday by a group called the National Registry of Exonerations revealed that 149 people — a record number — had convictions overturned in 2015, five of them from death row. That's three a week, and the average stay in prison had been 14 years. This makes 1,733 innocent people, and counting, freed in the U.S. since the National Registry started keeping track in 1989. The number of exonerations has doubled annually since 2011, in part because discoveries of [...]
Wrist-slap not enough for police who break law
By: Enzo Rondinelli - Published on Tue Dec 01 2015 | © Toronto Star. Reform is not going to be easy, but if the public is to maintain its respect for the police, change is vital. Prosecutions of police who are accused of Criminal Code violations must be reviewed well up the chain of command at the Ministry of the Attorney General with a view to toughening penalties, writes Enzo Rondinelli. For far too long, police forces have clung tenaciously to a specious rationale for going easy on officers who break the law. The way they see it, [...]
Most people in jail today are innocent: Michael Bryant
By: Michael Bryant - Published on Wed Nov 04 2015 | © Toronto Star. Canada’s crisis of untried prisoners is a problem the former Ontario attorney general wishes he addressed while in office According to StatsCan, "On any given day in Canada, there are more adults in custody awaiting trial or sentencing in provincial/territorial facilities than there are adults serving a sentence." On his way to the White House, Barack Obama promised to free untried people from prisons like Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, or GTMO. His failure to do so is an ongoing political controversy. But in Canada, [...]
Stephen Harper defangs another watchdog
By: Breese Davies - Published on Tue May 26 2015 | © Toronto Star. By reappointing prison ombudsman Howard Sapers to just a one-year-term, the prime minister has once again struck a blow to accountability. Howard Sapers - Professional in his approach and knowledgeable in the extreme, prison ombudsman Howard Sapers has always based his critiques and recommendations on sound criminology research, writes Breese Davies. Opinion / Commentary In days of yore, kings and queens festooned the castle gates with the severed heads of miscreants who had been executed as a lesson to others who would dare question [...]
Drinking and Driving Offenses and Punishment in Canada
By: David G. Bayliss and Luka Rados, David G. Bayliss Professional Corporation, April 5, 2015. This article discusses Canadian Drinking and Driving legislation and its interpretation by the courts since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was proclaimed in 1982. It is intended as overview for the layperson and not as an authoritative academic discussion of the subject. Anyone seeking a more comprehensive understanding of drinking and driving law in Canada may access, free of charge, The Criminal Code of Canada, legal academic writings and Canadian court decisions on the topic at the free website of the Canadian Legal [...]
Criminal Harassment in Canada
By: David G. Bayliss , September 2012. This article is an overview, in layman’s terms, of the requirements for proof of an allegation of criminal harassment in Canada. For a more comprehensive understanding of how this relatively new criminal legislation has been interpreted by Canadian Courts, reference should be made to legal information websites which recite actual court decisions and legal academic literature on what is a somewhat complex area of law. For example www.canlii.ca , the website of the Canadian Legal Information Institute, is open to all and free. Over the course of my almost three decades of practice [...]
The Consequences of An Allegation of Sexual Assault
By: David G. Bayliss , December 17, 2010. This article is written as a basic informational tool for the layperson with limited or no legal training. It deals with the consequences and potential consequences for persons eighteen years or older against whom a crime of sexual assault is alleged. Different rules apply for defendants under the age of eighteen. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author, a lawyer called to the bar of Ontario in 1984, who has practiced exclusively criminal defence work since that time. The subject is approached from the perspective of a person charged with [...]
Murder, Manslaughter or Infanticide – Culpable Homicide Under Canadian Law
By: David G. Bayliss - December 16, 2010. This article is a simplified description, in layperson's terms, of the law of homicide in Canada. For the actual applicable law, please consult the Criminal Code of Canada. In Canada, criminally blameworthy homicide is either murder, manslaughter or infanticide. Homicide that does not fit into one of these categories is not a crime. Infanticide occurs when a female person causes the death of her newly born child when her mind is disturbed as a result of the effects of giving birth. The maximum sentence for infanticide is five years in jail. There [...]