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R. V. MartineauR. v. Martineau 1990 2 SCR 633 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada case on the mens rea requirement for murder. This case follows up on the issues discussed by the court in R. v. Vaillancourt and concludes that crimes with "stigmas" require proof of subjective foresight. Background One evening in February of 1990, Patrick Tremblay and 15 year-old Mr. Martineau set out to rob a trailer owned by the McLean family in Valleyview, Alberta. Martineau was armed with a pellet gun and Tremblay was armed with a rifle. Martineau was under the impression that they were only going to committ breaking and entering and no one would be killed. However, during the robbery Tremblay shot and killed Mr. and Mrs. McLean. Martineau was charged with second degree murder (s.213(a) and (d) of the Criminal Code) for both deaths (under s.21(1) and (2)) and was transferred to adult court. At trial Martineau was convicted. But in appeal at the Alberta Court of Appeal the court overturned the decision, concluding that s.213(a) violated s.7 and s.11(d) of the Charter. The issue before the Court was whether the appeal court was correct in holding s.213(a) as a violation of ss. 7 and 11(d) the Charter. Ruling The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Appeal Court. s.213(a) violated the Charter and could not be saved under s.1. Majority The Majority was written by Lamer C.J.C. with Dickson C.J.C., Wilson, Gonthier, and Cory JJ concurring. Dissent L'Heureux-Dube J., alone, dissented. She held that s.213(a) did not violate either section of the Charter. Comments It should be noted that the judgment cites two Chief Justices. The reason for that it because Dickson was Chief Justice at the time of the hearing but retired before the judgement and replaced by Lamer who wrote the decision as Chief Justice.
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