Defence

Violent Offences

A Domestic assault lawyer in Toronto can help you lessen your violent offence charges.

Violent offences often carry very significant jail terms upon conviction and are some of the most stigmatizing charges in the Criminal Code. I have experience defending accused persons charged with murder, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing death. If charged with such an offence, it is of vital importance to retain a criminal lawyer you are confident in from the stage of the bail hearing. Due to the nature of violent offences, such cases often become bitterly contested from the stage of the bail hearing. This is unfortunate because violent offences also often have a number of defences, such as identity, provocation, self-defence and the credibility of witnesses.

When charged with a violent offence, particularly a newsworthy violent offence, it is vital to speak to and retain a lawyer immediately. There are a tremendous amount of police resources that are used investigating violent offences and the pressure of simply being investigated for such an offence can be overwhelming and can cause bad decisions to be made at an early stage. A criminal lawyer can assist in providing a countermeasure to the pressure and stress of being charged with such an offence.

Related Representative Work

R v. K.N.

Client charged with assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, possession of marijuana, fail to comply with undertaking and fail to attend Court were all withdrawn in Newmarket Court on the day of the trial. The defence obtained information that the complainant in the case was charged with a serious assault in another domestic incident with a different person and the Crown chose to withdraw the case rather than proceed.

R v. M.F.

Client’s charge of aggravated assault was withdrawn in Milton after the commencement of the preliminary inquiry. After questioning the main witness about her version of events, the Crown chose to withdraw the case rather than proceed to a jury trial. The client was originally facing 6 years in jail.

R v. B.C.

Client accused of criminal negligence causing death was granted bail in Oshawa Court despite fierce opposition from the Crown Attorney to his release.

R v. A.J.

Client charged with aggravated assault was discharged following a seven-day preliminary inquiry at 1000 Finch Court. In a situation where a “swarm” assault had occurred resulting in a serious injury to the victim, the judge found that there was not enough evidence that the accused was involved in the assault, rather than merely present at the scene. As a result of the judge finding that there was not sufficient proof that the accused had committed an assault, the charge was dismissed. The Crown was initially seeking an 18-month jail sentence for the accused.

R v. H.F.

Client charged with aggravated assault had charge withdrawn at College Park in Toronto. In a unique fact situation, the Crown was only able to establish the accused’s presence at the scene of a stabbing, but not that he was a party to the offence of the stabbing. As a result of the difficulties with proving the aggravated assault charge, the accused pled guilty to a lesser offence and was immediately released from custody.