At trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, Grant's motion to exclude the gun from evidence because his rights under the Charter had been violated was dismissed. The trial Judge found that there was no detention. He ruled that the conversation between the uniformed officer and Grant was merely "chit chat", while the officer asking Grant to keep his hands in from of him was a "request", not a "direction or demand". Finally, Grant could have simply walked around the officers and kept going.
He was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 18 months imprisionment but appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, arguing, in part, that he was detained and that the police questioning amounted to a search. Furthermore, if his rights were violated, he submitted, the revolver should have been excluded from evidence.
Section 9 of the Charter guarentees the right to not be arbitrarily detained. If police have reasonable grounds to detain for an investigation purpose, the detention will not be arbitrary. However, in this case the Crown conceded police did not have reasonable grounds to detain, taking the position that there was no detention.
Do you think the Appeal court upheld the Trial courts decision?
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