Cases

SCC Case Information

Summary

33680

Larry Sheldon McLeod v. Her Majesty the Queen

(Saskatchewan) (Criminal) (By Leave)

Keywords

Criminal Law.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch) for information purposes only.

Criminal law - Evidence - DNA evidence - Identity - Reasonable doubt - Whether the identity of a person accused of a criminal offence may be proven by DNA evidence alone in the absence of an “attribution statement from a DNA expert - Whether the trial judge failed to take proper account of the impact of “related populations” on random match probabilities - Whether the portable nature of the DNA evidence rendered that evidence less probative - Whether courts below erred by failing to note that police negligence potentially destroyed exculpatory evidence - Whether DNA evidence was undermined as a result of police failure to maintain the continuity of the crime scene prior to the discovery of that evidence.

The Applicant, Larry Sheldon McLeod, was tried by judge alone and convicted of first degree murder on the strength of DNA evidence found at the crime scene. It is alleged that he sexually assaulted and murdered an elderly woman. Mr. McLeod sought to have his conviction set aside on the basis of alleged errors in the trial judge’s treatment of the DNA evidence. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that while the case was unusual, Mr. McLeod’s arguments did not establish that the trial judge’s decision was unreasonable or not supported by the evidence.