When Police Records Disappear

 

A province says a police misconduct record is sealed and destroyed. The Supreme Court of Canada says a fair trial can’t work that way. We walk through a major ruling on criminal disclosure and why it matters when an investigating officer’s credibility is on the line, especially where past discipline involves dishonesty or reliability issues. From Stinchcombe to O’Connor to McNeil, we connect the dots between first-party disclosure, third-party records, and the real-world question defence lawyers face: what information must the Crown provide so an accused person can properly challenge the case against them?

Then we pivot to the financial wreckage left behind by a long-running Ponzi scheme. When the operator is bankrupt and the money is gone, the bankruptcy trustee has one practical tool left: clawbacks. We explain “net winners” versus “net losers”, why payouts often aren’t profits at all but other victims’ funds, and how concepts like fraudulent preference and fraudulent conveyance can unwind transactions to spread losses more fairly. If you’ve ever wondered what happens after a fraud collapses, this is the legal playbook.

We close with a sharp lesson on conditional sentence orders (house arrest) and breach allegations. A late-night compliance check leads to a simple defence, “I slept through it”, and a deeper legal issue: can the Crown jail someone for the rest of their sentence without proving intention? The BC Provincial Court says mens rea still matters, and we break down what that means for curfews, door-answering conditions, and proof.

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Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan is live on CFAX 1070 every Thursday at 12:30 p.m. It’s also available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.