R V Williams Case Summary

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R. v. Williams [1998] 1 S.C.R. 1128 2. Type and Level of Case This case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada on appeal from the court of appeal for British Columbia. It was heard by Lamer C.J. and L’Heureux Dubé, Gonthier, Cory, McLachlin, Iacobucci, Major, Bastarache and Binnie JJ. 3. Facts and Issues on Appeal • Victor Daniel Williams, an aboriginal, pleaded not guilty to robbing a Victoria pizza parlor in October, 1993. His defense was that another man committed the crime. • In the first trial, the Crown successfully applied for a mistrial on the bases of procedural errors and the “unfortunate publicity” of the jury selection process. • In the second trial, Williams motioned for an order permitting him to challenge jurors for cause.…show more content…
Issues on Appeal: The issue on this appeal is whether Mr. Williams has the right to question potential jurors to determine whether they possess prejudice against aboriginals which might impair their impartiality. 5. Judgment Because this judgment is a per curium decision, there is no author. The judgment called for an appeal and for a new trial for several reasons. The first reason recognizes the fact that jurors who harbor racial prejudices falling short of extreme prejudice cannot necessarily set them aside when asked to serve on a jury. The insidious nature of racial prejudice makes it impossible to be easily and effectively identified and set aside, even if one wishes to do so. The judgment found the better policy is to permit prejudices to be examined. Additionally, it is impossible to provide evidence of racism in jurors, especially if the prejudice is widespread in the community, making it harder for jurors to identify their own biases. The judgment also understands 638(1)(b) of the charter as having been misinterpreted. The purpose of 638(1)(b) is to prevent persons who may not be able to act impartially from sitting as jurors. If a threshold for challenges for cause is set too high, it can jeopardize 638(1)(b). For example, if everyone with an ounce of prejudice was considered improper for the

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