Episode 76: Mens Rea and the Automatism Defense

Histories And Mysteries

In 2013, 44 year-old former drug addict David Sullivan attacked and repeatedly stabbed his elderly mother. In 2015, 19 year-old former high school rugby star Thomas Chan brutally murdered his own father. Both suffered severe psychotic breaks that led to their violent actions, but due to a quirk in Canadian law, both were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. The successful appeal of these cases was reported as the court legalizing intoxication as a defense for sexual assault, resulting in a massive public backlash largely unrelated to the ultimate fates of two innocent men. Maclean's Article: https://www.macleans.ca/longforms/thomas-chan-supreme-court/ Legal Analysis from the Saskatchewan Review: https://sasklawreview.ca/the-constitutionality-of-section-33.1-a-never-ending-story.php