R. v. Smith (1992)

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R. v. Smith

Hearing: June 15, 1992
Judgment: August 27, 1992


Full case name:	Her Majesty The Queen v. Arthur Larry Smith
Citations:	[1992] 2 S.C.R. 915
Docket No.:	22281

Court membership

Chief Justice: Antonio Lamer
Puisne Justices: Gérard La Forest, Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, John Sopinka, Charles Gonthier, Peter Cory, Beverley McLachlin, William Stevenson, Frank Iacobucci

Reasons given

Unanimous reason by: Lamer C.J.

R. v. Smith, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 915 is a leading decision on hearsay by the Supreme Court of Canada. This decision, long with R. v. Khan (1990), began was is called the "hearsay revolution" supplementing the traditional categorical approach to hearsay exceptions with a new "principled approach" based on reliability and necessity of the testimony.

1 Background
2 Judgment
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Background

Arthur Larry Smith was accused of killing Aritha Monalisa King. It was believed that they had both traveled from Detroit to London, Ontario. While in Canada, Smith had asked King to smuggle the drugs back for him. She refused and was killed by Smith. At trial, King's mother testified that she received four phon calls from her daughter the night of her death. The last call came from near where her body was found. She had told her mother she would be home very soon.

At trial the evidence was let in and Smith was convicted. On appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the statements could be admissible.

[edit] Judgment

Lamer C.J. writing for the Court, dismissed the appeal. His reasons focused on the "principled approach" first developed in the Khan case. He found that the new approach was not just limited to child testimony but rather was a new method that applied to all hearsay statements, calling it a "triumph of a principled analysis over a set of ossified judicially created categories".