Episode 2: R. v. Hanrahan
His Majesty the King v. Lucas Hanrahan
At trial where the central issue was whether or not the complainant had consented to sexual activity with the accused, the jury found the accused not guilty of sexual assault.
The Crown appealed, citing what they believed to be two errors. First: The Crown argued that the trial judge had been too extreme in restricting what text messages between the accused and the complainant could be used at trial. Second: the Crown argued that the trial judge had improperly allowed the defence to illicit evidence of prior sexual activity of the complainant. The trial judge reasoned that this evidence was relevant to an inconsistency between the complainant’s evidence at trial, and her statement to police. The Crown maintained the evidence did not produce an inconsistency.
A majority of the Court of Appeal found that the while the judge perhaps should have not have restricted the use of the text messages to that extent, the restrictions were a reasonable use of the trial judge’s powers to manage the trial, so a new trial was not warranted. The Court of Appeal also found that the evidence of prior sexual activity was properly allowed at trial, and was properly left with the jury to consider it as an inconsistency—despite the restriction by the trial judge that the Crown was not allowed to question the complainant about the inconsistency. The Crown’s appeal was dismissed. The dissenting judge at the Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown, and would have ordered a new trial.