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Reasons - Late Reasons. R. v. R.C.
In R. v. R.C. (Ont CA, 2021) the Court of Appeal considered the issue of the reliability of judge's reasons:[10] A trial judge’s reasons are presumed to be an accurate reflection of the reasoning that led the trial judge to the decision. That presumption, while strong, can be rebutted by cogent evidence. For example, reasons given long after a verdict was rendered and subsequent to the commencement of an appeal, can compel the conclusion that the reasons are not an accurate reflection of the decision-making process engaged in by the trial judge and that the trial judge engaged instead in a result-driven consideration of the evidence. This is particularly true where – as here – the reasons were rendered after an appeal had been commenced: R. v. Teskey, 2007 SCC 25, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 267, at paras. 18‑19; R. v. Wang, 2010 ONCA 435, 263 O.A.C. 194, at paras. 9-12.
[11] In Wang, at para. 9, this court observed that “it is inappropriate to modify, change or add to a transcript of oral reasons rendered in court.” At a minimum, where oral reasons are given and written reasons issued sometime later, changes that represent “something substantially different from what in fact occurred in the courtroom” are not permitted: Wang, at para. 10.
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