Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-22-2020
Source Publication
Canadian Bar Review 98 (2), 358-387
Abstract
In 2016, Gerald Stanley shot 22-year-old Colten Boushie in the back of the head after Boushie and his friends entered Stanley’s farm. Boushie died instantly. Stanley relied on a hangfire defence, rooted in the defence of accident, and was found not guilty by an all-white jury. Throughout the trial, Stanley invoked concerns about trespass and rural crime (particularly property crime) that raised much evidence of limited relevance to whether or not the shooting was an accident. We argue that the assertions of trespass, without formerly raising the defence of property or trespass, shaped the trial by providing a racist, anti-Indigenous-tinged narrative to try and justify, if not excuse, Stanley’s use of a deadly gun, without requiring those elements to be properly considered by the jury through a formal invocation of those defences.
Repository Citation
Flynn, Alexandra and Van Wagner, Estair, "A Colonial Castle: Defence of Property in R V Stanley" (2020). Articles & Book Chapters. 2880.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/2880
Included in
Criminal Law Commons, Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons