Guilty Plea Struck: Sexual Assault and Sexual Interference Charges Withdrawn!

A young man was charged with sexual assault and sexual interference. It was alleged he had a sexual relationship with a young woman. Due to her age, she could not legally consent in law to any sexual activity

Guilty Plea Process – Explained

This young man retained a sexual assault lawyer to help him with the criminal allegations. Based on the advice he was given; he agreed to enter a guilty plea and proceed to sentencing. The typical procedure at a sentencing hearing is for an Agreed Statement of Facts to be exhibited before the Sentencing Judge. This is a document that outlines all the essential elements of the offence that the prosecutor would have had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. If the prosecutor, defence and accused person agreed to all the statements, then this document is signed by all parties and exhibited before the Court. It is important that your lawyer has carefully analyzed all the statements and gives competent and precise legal advice. Once this document is tendered, typically the prosecutor will make submissions as to what sentence he or she is seeking and why. The defence lawyer will do the same. During this part of the hearing, if there is a Victim Impact Statement on the court file, it will be opened and disseminated to the lawyers first. The purpose is for the lawyers to consider whether the statement complies with the appropriate sections in the Criminal Code. If the lawyers agree that the contents in the Victim Impact Statement, then it will be exhibited as part of the sentencing. In some cases, portions of the statement may be redacted. The Criminal Code allows for the victim to read the statement in person or to have it read by someone else.

In this case, the sentencing hearing proceeded with the other lawyer. The contents of this Victim Impact Statement caused the lawyer to try to undo the guilty plea. Ultimately, that lawyer withdrew from the record and the young man retained me to assist him.

Application to STRIKE a Guilty Plea

A valid guilty plea must meet specific criteria in order for a judge to accept it. First, the plea must be voluntary. Second, it must be informed. Third, the plea must be unequivocal. If a plea has been tendered to a judge but something happens before the sentencing concludes to question one of these criteria, then an application must be made before the Sentencing Judge to apply to strike the plea. The case law that will support the application will depend on the reason for making the application. In this case, the reason was that the young man was uninformed based on the contents of the Victim Impact Statement. The leading case law is R v Wong, 2018 SCC 25 and R c Taillefer, 2003 SCC 70. Both of these decisions discuss the second criteria of an informed plea and the issue of disclosure and non-disclosure. Ultimately, the Sentencing Judge agreed with me that there were very real and valid reasons to reject this plea and strike it. I argued that a miscarriage of justice would occur if he would not strike the plea.

Charges Withdrawn

Sexual assault and sexual interference are very serious criminal allegations which will lead to a prison sentence if an accused is convicted. Sexual interference is defined as the touching of any part of the body of a young person for a sexual purpose. This charge is laid when the alleged victim is under the age of 16. Sexual assault is defined as touching of the body for a sexual purpose. These charges are often laid together but typically the conviction will be secured on the sexual interference charge. In this case, both charges were completely withdrawn by the crown after a skillful negotiation, arguments, and strategic legal work.

If you have been charged with sexual assault or sexual interference, contact us today. We are serious lawyers who defend serious allegations every single day.