EVIDENCE — Admissibility — Prejudicial evidence — Probative value

Law360 Canada ( August 15, 2024, 1:00 PM EDT) -- Appeal by Bush from his conviction for three counts of first-degree murder. The offence involved the deaths of Alban Garon, a former Chief Justice of the Tax Court of Canada, his wife Raymonde and their neighbour Beniskos, who were found dead in the Garons’ apartment in 2007 with plastic bags over their heads and signs of asphyxiation. Bush had a combative relationship with the Canada Revenue Agency dating back to the early 1990s. Years later, in 2015, Bush was charged and convicted of these three murders. Bush appealed on two grounds, namely: 1) that the trial judge (judge) erroneously admitted evidence of the contents of a bag seized from Bush’s residence without analyzing its probative value and prejudicial effect and 2) that the judge erred in his instruction to the jury that if they found Bush committed a planned and deliberate murder of any one victim, they must convict him of all three counts. Bush argued that the admission of the evidence about potential other murders and the jury instruction were errors that prejudiced the case against him. However, the prosecution maintained that despite any errors, the evidence against Bush was overwhelming and the convictions should be upheld....
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