What is the duty of an appellate tribunal to assess evidence at trial for the purpose of determining guilt or innocence?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Taylor, 2015 ONSC 1330 (CanLII):
Counsel referred to Harpur v. The Queen, (1982) 1982 CanLII 11 (SCC), 65 C.C.C. (2d) 193 (O.C.A.). In that decision the court commented that an appellate tribunal has neither the duty nor the right to assess evidence at trial for the purpose of determining guilt or innocence. The duty of the appellate tribunal does, however, include a review of the record below in order to determine whether the trial court has properly directed itself to all the evidence bearing on the relevant issues. Where the record, including the Reasons for Judgment, discloses a lack of appreciation relevant evidence and more particularly the complete disregard of such evidence, then it falls upon the reviewing tribunal to intercede. (see pg. 16)
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