Supreme Court to hear Stephan appeal Tuesday

The former southern Alberta couple found guilty in 2016 of failing to provide their 19-monthold son the necessaries of life is scheduled to have their case heard Tuesday by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The couple was convicted by a jury who heard during trial that the boy died from bacterial meningitis after his parents attempted to treat him with natural remedies instead of taking him to a doctor. David Stephan was sentenced to four months in jail and Collet Stephan three months of house arrest, sentences that were later upheld in a 2-1 decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

In their appeal, David argued the trial judge erred in failing to limit the Crown’s expert evidence, in restricting a defence expert’s qualification and scope of opinion, and in his characterization and restriction of his father’s evidence. Collet argued the trial judge’s charge to the jury was inadequate, that the trial was unfair and amounted to a miscarriage of justice, and that her rights to be tried within a reasonable time were breached.

The majority in the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, but one of the judges dissented, which allowed the Stephans to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

According to a case summary of the appeal decision, the dissenting judge would have allowed the appeal and ordered a retrial, and was of the view that the trial judge’s charge to the jury was confusing, misleading and deficient in describing a key element of the offence, and that the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury on the fault element or the mens rea of the offence.

Mens rea is Latin for guilty mind, and many serious crimes require the proof of mens rea before a person can be convicted. The prosecution must not only prove that the accused committed the offence but that they did it knowing it was prohibited and that their act or omission was done with an intent to commit a crime.