An Ontario judge has thrown out laser scan evidence due to the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s late disclosure and late notice to defence counsel that the MOL intended to present that evidence in court.
A construction company was charged with three counts under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act after a fatal accident involving the collapse of a drill rig that it operated. The laser scan evidence purported to show the slope of ground where the rig collapsed.
The trial started in July 2014 and a number of witnesses were called by the prosecution. Before the trial resumed a few months later, the prosecutor told defence counsel that he intended to call a police sergeant as a witness to present and testify about the laser scan. The defence demanded the “raw data” in relation to the laser scan but was told that the sergeant had overwritten it when the laser scanner consolidated the original raw data.
The defence brought an application asking that the charges be stayed (effectively dismissed). The court held that the late disclosure and late notice to the defence meant that five days of evidence had been called at trial before the defence knew “the full case that it had to meet”. This was not fair to the company. Although the prosecution had not acted in bad faith, its decision to change its mind and call the laser scan evidence infringed the company’s right to make a full defence.
The court decided that the proper remedy was to prohibit the MOL from presenting the laser scan evidence. Given that the MOL’s conduct had not been egregious, and the reliability of the laser scan evidence was not great in any event, it was not appropriate to stay the charges.
Ontario (Ministry of Labour) v. Advanced Construction Techniques Ltd., 2016 ONCJ 392 (CanLII)
