Forcillo Guilty
- Thread starter CDNBear
- Start date
JLM ...Methinks you have been arguing with Cannut to much....
Some of semantics arguments are starting to rub off......
Some of semantics arguments are starting to rub off......
come on we are talking apples and oranges,Stand outside a greyhound bus and let a guy with a knife decapitate a victim, eat his eyes and you're an a$$hole cop who should have done something more.
Shoot a guy on a TTC streetcar who is wielding a knife on camera and put some extra shots into him and you're a murderer.
Makes you wonder why the hell would anyone want to be a cop?
any idiot including idiot cops should be able to tell the difference in the two cases,one cop responded correctly and the other one did not,let's get real,take your rose coloured glasses off.
there's lots of good cops who would have not shot like this cop shot,if at all.
i am sure the Officer had previous encounters which should have been red flags for management,this has been one of my beefs with administration when recognizing lower rank Officers are in need of help,it doesn't come,or it comes too late,or Officers are shamed to
"belly up and be strong"
the Officers history is as important as the shooting itself/
mental health professionals should be riding with cops.
Crown defends Forcillo conviction in Sammy Yatim shooting ahead of cop's appeal
The Canadian Press
First posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 01:19 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 02:05 PM EDT
TORONTO - Prosecutors say an Ontario judge was right to exclude evidence meant to suggest a troubled teen who was gunned down by a Toronto Police officer four years ago was trying to commit “suicide by cop.”
The Crown is also defending the attempted murder conviction handed down to Const. James Forcillo in the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, saying it was neither unreasonable nor inconsistent with the officer’s acquittal on second-degree murder.
The arguments were laid out in documents filed with the court two weeks before Forcillo is scheduled to appeal his conviction and sentence.
The officer, who is currently on bail pending the appeal, was sentenced to six years behind bars, a year more than the mandatory minimum.
He is asking the appeal court to substitute a not-guilty verdict or order a new trial.
He is also seeking a declaration that the mandatory minimum sentence for attempted murder is unconstitutional, and wants to be granted a suspended sentence. Barring that, he wants his sentence reduced to the minimum five years.
The 2013 shooting took place on an empty streetcar and became the focus of public outrage and protests.
Forcillo fired two volleys at Yatim, who held a small knife and was exposing himself. Court heard the first round of shots was the one that killed him.
The second-degree murder charge against the officer related to the first three shots fired, while the attempted murder charge pertained to the second volley.
The Crown says excluding evidence on the possibility of “suicide by cop,” where a person behaves threateningly in order to trigger a lethal response from law enforcement, did not affect the outcome of the case.
“The appellant’s defence to attempted murder was that he fired, honestly but mistakenly believing that Mr. Yatim was getting up. He testified that had he realized that Mr. Yatim was not getting up, he would not have fired,” it said in the documents.
“None of the proposed evidence was relevant to the attempted murder count. The excluded evidence would not have assisted the appellant’s defence or changed the landscape of the case against him.”
Prosecutors also say the attempted murder conviction was not inconsistent with the acquittal on second-degree murder, since the two “arise from different factual and legal bases, which were clearly explained to the jury by both Crown and defence counsel in their opening and closing addresses, and by the trial judge in the charge to the jury.”
As for Forcillo’s request for a suspended sentence, they argue it is “both manifestly unfit and unavailable, due to the constitutionally valid minimum sentences.”
“Parliament intended the minimum sentences to apply to every person who uses an inherently dangerous lethal firearm (not just those who shoot one) in an attempt to kill another person. Those in possession of firearms — for whatever reason — can be deterred from using them unlawfully,” they say.
Court documents filed by the defence earlier this year argue Superior Court Justice Edward Then was wrong to exclude cellphone and expert evidence about the possibility of “suicide by cop.”
They say the judge should have declared a mistrial because excluding that evidence prevented the defence from countering the narrative put forward by prosecutors, which painted Yatim as a young man in crisis. The documents show Forcillo’s lawyers had intended to argue the crisis was such that it could not be de-escalated.
The defence also says Then should not have instructed jurors to consider the charge of attempted murder, saying that “as a matter of common sense, the suggestion that an accused can be legally justified in killing someone but criminally liable for attempting to kill that same person within the span of less than 10 seconds in unfathomable.”
The appeal is set to be heard Oct. 2 and 3.
Crown defends Forcillo conviction in Sammy Yatim shooting ahead of cop's appeal
The Canadian Press
First posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 01:19 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 02:05 PM EDT
TORONTO - Prosecutors say an Ontario judge was right to exclude evidence meant to suggest a troubled teen who was gunned down by a Toronto Police officer four years ago was trying to commit “suicide by cop.”
The Crown is also defending the attempted murder conviction handed down to Const. James Forcillo in the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, saying it was neither unreasonable nor inconsistent with the officer’s acquittal on second-degree murder.
The arguments were laid out in documents filed with the court two weeks before Forcillo is scheduled to appeal his conviction and sentence.
The officer, who is currently on bail pending the appeal, was sentenced to six years behind bars, a year more than the mandatory minimum.
He is asking the appeal court to substitute a not-guilty verdict or order a new trial.
He is also seeking a declaration that the mandatory minimum sentence for attempted murder is unconstitutional, and wants to be granted a suspended sentence. Barring that, he wants his sentence reduced to the minimum five years.
The 2013 shooting took place on an empty streetcar and became the focus of public outrage and protests.
Forcillo fired two volleys at Yatim, who held a small knife and was exposing himself. Court heard the first round of shots was the one that killed him.
The second-degree murder charge against the officer related to the first three shots fired, while the attempted murder charge pertained to the second volley.
The Crown says excluding evidence on the possibility of “suicide by cop,” where a person behaves threateningly in order to trigger a lethal response from law enforcement, did not affect the outcome of the case.
“The appellant’s defence to attempted murder was that he fired, honestly but mistakenly believing that Mr. Yatim was getting up. He testified that had he realized that Mr. Yatim was not getting up, he would not have fired,” it said in the documents.
“None of the proposed evidence was relevant to the attempted murder count. The excluded evidence would not have assisted the appellant’s defence or changed the landscape of the case against him.”
Prosecutors also say the attempted murder conviction was not inconsistent with the acquittal on second-degree murder, since the two “arise from different factual and legal bases, which were clearly explained to the jury by both Crown and defence counsel in their opening and closing addresses, and by the trial judge in the charge to the jury.”
As for Forcillo’s request for a suspended sentence, they argue it is “both manifestly unfit and unavailable, due to the constitutionally valid minimum sentences.”
“Parliament intended the minimum sentences to apply to every person who uses an inherently dangerous lethal firearm (not just those who shoot one) in an attempt to kill another person. Those in possession of firearms — for whatever reason — can be deterred from using them unlawfully,” they say.
Court documents filed by the defence earlier this year argue Superior Court Justice Edward Then was wrong to exclude cellphone and expert evidence about the possibility of “suicide by cop.”
They say the judge should have declared a mistrial because excluding that evidence prevented the defence from countering the narrative put forward by prosecutors, which painted Yatim as a young man in crisis. The documents show Forcillo’s lawyers had intended to argue the crisis was such that it could not be de-escalated.
The defence also says Then should not have instructed jurors to consider the charge of attempted murder, saying that “as a matter of common sense, the suggestion that an accused can be legally justified in killing someone but criminally liable for attempting to kill that same person within the span of less than 10 seconds in unfathomable.”
The appeal is set to be heard Oct. 2 and 3.
Crown defends Forcillo conviction in Sammy Yatim shooting ahead of cop's appeal
Forcillo's bail extended as appeal of Yatim conviction split
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, September 29, 2017 01:56 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 29, 2017 02:09 PM EDT
TORONTO - The Toronto Police constable convicted of the attempted murder of Sammy Yatim on a TTC streetcar was supposed to surrender into custody on Sunday night.
But James Forcillo had his bail extended Thursday for several months after the Court of Appeal decided to split his appeal of his conviction into two parts.
The first portion will be heard starting Monday, as previously scheduled, and is slated for 10 hours of argument, possibly lasting until Wednesday.
The second portion of the appeal — which Ontario’s highest court will hear in the new year and has a hard deadline of April 2, 2018 — will deal with a fresh evidence application. Forcillo will be stepping into custody on the night before the fresh evidence portion of his appeal.
“He’s not getting any special treatment here,” a source familiar with the case told the Sun. “The court severed the appeal in two parts and he’s stepping into custody before the last part.”
Forcillo was acquitted in January 2016 of second-degree murder after shooting Yatim, 18, three times. But he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to six years' imprisonment for firing another six shots after the dying teen lay on the streetcar floor.
Lawyers for the Toronto cop will argue next week that the attempted murder conviction is a compromise verdict that is unreasonable and illogical since the jury acquitted him of second-degree murder in the July 27, 2013 shooting.
Forcillo’s lawyers, Michael Lacy and Joseph Wilkinson, will argue that conviction should be replaced by an acquittal.
And, they say, trial judge Justice Edward Then deprived the defence of its theory that knife-wielding Yatim’s death was suicide by cop and thus “caused a miscarriage of justice.”
Then excluded evidence that showed the teen “confronted police” to trigger “his homicide as a way of committing suicide,” Lacy and Wilkinson stated in factums for the appeal.
“This evidence was meant to show that Yatim was intent on provoking a lethal confrontation with police to bring about his own death,” the lawyers stated.
Documents filed in support of the bail extension state that Forcillo and his wife, Irina, divorced in July. The new bail document still includes her as a surety, but names her as Irina Ratushnyak.
“She has subsequently taken her maiden name back. She and (Forcillo) remain on good terms and continue to live together and co-parent their two children,” stated an affidavit prepared by an employee of Forcillo’s lawyers’ firm, Brauti Thorning Zibarras.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Forcillo's bail extended as appeal of Yatim conviction split | Toronto & GTA | N
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, September 29, 2017 01:56 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 29, 2017 02:09 PM EDT
TORONTO - The Toronto Police constable convicted of the attempted murder of Sammy Yatim on a TTC streetcar was supposed to surrender into custody on Sunday night.
But James Forcillo had his bail extended Thursday for several months after the Court of Appeal decided to split his appeal of his conviction into two parts.
The first portion will be heard starting Monday, as previously scheduled, and is slated for 10 hours of argument, possibly lasting until Wednesday.
The second portion of the appeal — which Ontario’s highest court will hear in the new year and has a hard deadline of April 2, 2018 — will deal with a fresh evidence application. Forcillo will be stepping into custody on the night before the fresh evidence portion of his appeal.
“He’s not getting any special treatment here,” a source familiar with the case told the Sun. “The court severed the appeal in two parts and he’s stepping into custody before the last part.”
Forcillo was acquitted in January 2016 of second-degree murder after shooting Yatim, 18, three times. But he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to six years' imprisonment for firing another six shots after the dying teen lay on the streetcar floor.
Lawyers for the Toronto cop will argue next week that the attempted murder conviction is a compromise verdict that is unreasonable and illogical since the jury acquitted him of second-degree murder in the July 27, 2013 shooting.
Forcillo’s lawyers, Michael Lacy and Joseph Wilkinson, will argue that conviction should be replaced by an acquittal.
And, they say, trial judge Justice Edward Then deprived the defence of its theory that knife-wielding Yatim’s death was suicide by cop and thus “caused a miscarriage of justice.”
Then excluded evidence that showed the teen “confronted police” to trigger “his homicide as a way of committing suicide,” Lacy and Wilkinson stated in factums for the appeal.
“This evidence was meant to show that Yatim was intent on provoking a lethal confrontation with police to bring about his own death,” the lawyers stated.
Documents filed in support of the bail extension state that Forcillo and his wife, Irina, divorced in July. The new bail document still includes her as a surety, but names her as Irina Ratushnyak.
“She has subsequently taken her maiden name back. She and (Forcillo) remain on good terms and continue to live together and co-parent their two children,” stated an affidavit prepared by an employee of Forcillo’s lawyers’ firm, Brauti Thorning Zibarras.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Forcillo's bail extended as appeal of Yatim conviction split | Toronto & GTA | N
As if the video is difficult to understand.
This slug is still free, anyone else captured on video murdering a hapless soul would've been locked up long ago, to serve and protect their own!
https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/...illo-days-before-he-was-due-to-be-jailed.html
This slug is still free, anyone else captured on video murdering a hapless soul would've been locked up long ago, to serve and protect their own!
https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/...illo-days-before-he-was-due-to-be-jailed.html
Cop appeals attempted murder conviction in shooting of Sammy Yatim
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, October 02, 2017 07:58 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, October 02, 2017 08:02 PM EDT
Lawyers for convicted Toronto Police officer James Forcillo sought an acquittal in the shooting of Sammy Yatim at Ontario’s highest court Monday by citing the controversial case of former child actor Tyson Talbot.
A jury found Forcillo not guilty of second-degree murder for firing the first three-shot volley at Yatim, which landed a fatal heart wound, paralyzed him from the waist down and broke his upper right arm.
But the jury convicted Forcillo of attempted murder for a second volley which also inflicted serious wounds. Those injuries, however, didn’t contribute to his death on July 27, 2013, on a downtown Toronto streetcar.
Lawyers Michael Lacy and Joseph Wilkinson argued those “two volleys in this case together formed a single transaction” in a justifiable act of self-defence against the knife-wielding Yatim.
“As a matter of common sense, the suggestion that an accused can be legally justified in killing someone, but criminally liable for attempting to kill the same person within a span of less than 10 seconds is unfathomable,” stated Lacy.
He likened this scenario to the case of Talbot, who was also tried and acquitted for second-degree murder in a controversial 2004 case.
In an act of self defence, Talbot, who appeared on four episodes of the popular TV series Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Jr. High in his youth, punched University of Toronto student and model Christopher Shelton, 23, on Nov. 29, 2002, sending him toppling backwards “like a tree.” The impact on the sidewalk inflicted a fatal head injury. Within 30 to 60 seconds, Talbot stomped or kicked Shelton in the head so hard that he left his shoe imprint on his forehead.
The trial judge said the jury could treat the punch and kick as two separate and discrete transactions. In 2007, Justice David Doherty of the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the 2004 acquittal for Talbot, 35, and stated the trial judge was wrong: The jury should have considered the punch and kick as “one single ongoing transaction.”
The appeal resumes Tuesday.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Cop appeals attempted murder conviction in shooting of Sammy Yatim | Toronto & G
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, October 02, 2017 07:58 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, October 02, 2017 08:02 PM EDT
Lawyers for convicted Toronto Police officer James Forcillo sought an acquittal in the shooting of Sammy Yatim at Ontario’s highest court Monday by citing the controversial case of former child actor Tyson Talbot.
A jury found Forcillo not guilty of second-degree murder for firing the first three-shot volley at Yatim, which landed a fatal heart wound, paralyzed him from the waist down and broke his upper right arm.
But the jury convicted Forcillo of attempted murder for a second volley which also inflicted serious wounds. Those injuries, however, didn’t contribute to his death on July 27, 2013, on a downtown Toronto streetcar.
Lawyers Michael Lacy and Joseph Wilkinson argued those “two volleys in this case together formed a single transaction” in a justifiable act of self-defence against the knife-wielding Yatim.
“As a matter of common sense, the suggestion that an accused can be legally justified in killing someone, but criminally liable for attempting to kill the same person within a span of less than 10 seconds is unfathomable,” stated Lacy.
He likened this scenario to the case of Talbot, who was also tried and acquitted for second-degree murder in a controversial 2004 case.
In an act of self defence, Talbot, who appeared on four episodes of the popular TV series Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Jr. High in his youth, punched University of Toronto student and model Christopher Shelton, 23, on Nov. 29, 2002, sending him toppling backwards “like a tree.” The impact on the sidewalk inflicted a fatal head injury. Within 30 to 60 seconds, Talbot stomped or kicked Shelton in the head so hard that he left his shoe imprint on his forehead.
The trial judge said the jury could treat the punch and kick as two separate and discrete transactions. In 2007, Justice David Doherty of the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the 2004 acquittal for Talbot, 35, and stated the trial judge was wrong: The jury should have considered the punch and kick as “one single ongoing transaction.”
The appeal resumes Tuesday.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Cop appeals attempted murder conviction in shooting of Sammy Yatim | Toronto & G
Lawyers Michael Lacy and Joseph Wilkinson argued those “two volleys in this case together formed a single transaction” in a justifiable act of self-defence against the knife-wielding Yatim.
Legal eagles will argue up is down however the real tragedy is loopy judges ponder the argument, he was no immediate threat to anyone as the video very clearly shows. Forcillo is simply a poor excuse for a man, that he become a peace officer indicates cop shop recruitment process is in urgent need of review.
Sadly courts here and stateside totally disregard video evidence granting cops a get out of jail free card, incidents will continue to escalate as getting away with murder emboldens.
Legal eagles will argue up is down however the real tragedy is loopy judges ponder the argument, he was no immediate threat to anyone as the video very clearly shows. Forcillo is simply a poor excuse for a man, that he become a peace officer indicates cop shop recruitment process is in urgent need of review.
Sadly courts here and stateside totally disregard video evidence granting cops a get out of jail free card, incidents will continue to escalate as getting away with murder emboldens.
Forcillo 'exceeded bounds of self-defence': Crown
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 06:42 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 06:52 PM EDT
Crown lawyers argued Tuesday that Toronto Police officer James Forcillo “exceeded the bounds of self-defence and justification” when he fired six shots into a dying Sammy Yatim on a streetcar.
A jury found Forcillo not guilty of second-degree murder for the first three-shot volley he fired at Yatim — bullets which caused a fatal heart wound, paralyzed him from the mid-torso down and broke his upper right arm.
But the jury found Forcillo guilty of attempted murder for a second series of shots, which injured Yatim, but didn’t contribute to his death on July 27, 2013 on a downtown TTC streetcar.
In the Court of Appeal hearing, the Crown defended its decision to lay both murder and attempted murder charges because “having two counts avoided any confusion as to the correct verdict if the jury were to conclude” Forcillo was only guilty of the second volley of shots.
“This avoided the risk alluded to in the Talbot case, that if the jury found only the second volley of shots ‘morally reprehensible’ they might reason backward and find Forcillo guilty of murder for acts that did not cause death,” stated a Crown factum.
The controversial case of former child actor Tyson Talbot, who was tried and acquitted of second-degree murder, was cited by the prosecution as a justification for the attempted murder conviction.
In a case of self-defence, Talbot, who appeared on four episodes of the popular TV series Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Jr. High in his youth, punched University of Toronto student and model Christopher Shelton, 23, on Nov. 29, 2002, sending him toppling backwards, “like a tree.”
The impact on the sidewalk inflicted a fatal brain injury. Within 30-60 seconds, Talbot stomped or kicked Shelton so hard in the head that he left his shoe imprint on his forehead.
The Crown quoted the Court of Appeal judgment in Talbot, which stated, “a person who is initially acting in self-defence is not ‘cloaked in legal immunity’ should that person proceed to attack his defenceless assailant.”
The Court of Appeal will hear the rest of the appeal early new year.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Forcillo 'exceeded bounds of self-defence': Crown | Toronto & GTA | News | Toron
By Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 06:42 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 06:52 PM EDT
Crown lawyers argued Tuesday that Toronto Police officer James Forcillo “exceeded the bounds of self-defence and justification” when he fired six shots into a dying Sammy Yatim on a streetcar.
A jury found Forcillo not guilty of second-degree murder for the first three-shot volley he fired at Yatim — bullets which caused a fatal heart wound, paralyzed him from the mid-torso down and broke his upper right arm.
But the jury found Forcillo guilty of attempted murder for a second series of shots, which injured Yatim, but didn’t contribute to his death on July 27, 2013 on a downtown TTC streetcar.
In the Court of Appeal hearing, the Crown defended its decision to lay both murder and attempted murder charges because “having two counts avoided any confusion as to the correct verdict if the jury were to conclude” Forcillo was only guilty of the second volley of shots.
“This avoided the risk alluded to in the Talbot case, that if the jury found only the second volley of shots ‘morally reprehensible’ they might reason backward and find Forcillo guilty of murder for acts that did not cause death,” stated a Crown factum.
The controversial case of former child actor Tyson Talbot, who was tried and acquitted of second-degree murder, was cited by the prosecution as a justification for the attempted murder conviction.
In a case of self-defence, Talbot, who appeared on four episodes of the popular TV series Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Jr. High in his youth, punched University of Toronto student and model Christopher Shelton, 23, on Nov. 29, 2002, sending him toppling backwards, “like a tree.”
The impact on the sidewalk inflicted a fatal brain injury. Within 30-60 seconds, Talbot stomped or kicked Shelton so hard in the head that he left his shoe imprint on his forehead.
The Crown quoted the Court of Appeal judgment in Talbot, which stated, “a person who is initially acting in self-defence is not ‘cloaked in legal immunity’ should that person proceed to attack his defenceless assailant.”
The Court of Appeal will hear the rest of the appeal early new year.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Forcillo 'exceeded bounds of self-defence': Crown | Toronto & GTA | News | Toron