Impacts Of The Supreme Court's Decision In R v Anthony-Cook On The Certainty Of Plea Agreements And Jointly Proposed Sentencing

In the recently issued decision in R. v. Anthony-Cook,1 the Supreme Court of Canada (the "Court") clarified that there is only one test that a court must apply when assessing whether a joint submission on sentence should be rejected, namely the "public interest test".

The Court also determined that trial judges should indicate the possibility of giving accused persons the opportunity of withdrawing their guilty plea where trial judges express concerns regarding a joint submission and might reject the sentence proposed by Crown and defence counsel pursuant to a plea agreement.

Facts

As observed by the Court, the facts of the case "are as simple as they are tragic."2 The appellant, Mr. Anthony-Cook, had a history of mental health and drug use issues and occasionally visited a drop-in centre for mental health and addiction issues located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The appellant threw punches at a volunteer of the drop-in centre, who fell down and died after fracturing his skull on the pavement.

The appellant was accused of manslaughter. After the trial began, he eventually elected to plead guilty, agreeing with Crown counsel on a joint submission on sentence. The jointly proposed sentence consisted of a custodial sentence of 18 months (with 11 months already spent by the accused in pre-trial custody) with no period of probation thereafter.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia rejected the joint submission on the basis that the proposed sentence gave inadequate "weight to the principles of denunciation, deterrence, and protection of the public."3 In lieu of the proposed sentence, the trial judge increased the custodial sentence to 24 months and issued a 3-year probation order. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia determined that the sentence imposed by the trial judge was fit in the circumstances and unanimously rejected the sentence appeal of the accused.

Principles Adopted by the Court

Public Interest Test

The Court (speaking through Moldaver J.) unanimously held that the sole test that courts must employ to decide if a joint submission is acceptable is the stringent "public interest test." Pursuant to this test, trial judges must "not depart from a joint submission on sentence unless the proposed sentence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute or is otherwise contrary to the public interest."4 In other words, a trial judge may only reject a jointly proposed sentence where it "would be viewed by reasonable and informed persons as a breakdown in the proper functioning of the justice system."5

By adopting this unique test, the Court rejected the less demanding "fitness of sentence" and "demonstrably unfit" tests that some courts had inconsistently applied in the past and commented that "a joint submission should not be rejected lightly."6

In justifying the need for a test that encompasses a high threshold, the Court mentioned that joint submissions on sentence increase the certainty of the outcome of criminal proceedings, a feature which is relied on by both the accused and the Crown and which presents several benefits for participants in the criminal justice system. Imposing restraint on trial judges with respect to the rejection of joint submissions allows this high degree of certainty. Joint submissions also greatly benefit the administration of justice in terms of efficiency as they, in the words of the Court, "save the justice system precious time, resources, and expenses, which can be channeled into other matters."7 The Court further observed that it is appropriate to let Crown and defence counsel enter into plea agreements and expressed its confidence in the fact that they are able to reach just resolutions that are in line with the public interest.

It remains, however, that "[c]ertainty must yield where the harm caused by accepting the joint submission is beyond the value gained by promoting certainty of result."8 The Court indicated that this principle is acknowledged by the public interest test.

Guidance for Trial Judges

In addition...