TORONTO -- Ontario's highest court will hear an appeal today from a man who argues his gun offence conviction is a result of racial profiling.
Richard Steele's lawyers say in a factum filed with the court that Steele's trial judge erred in failing to properly consider evidence of racial profiling in finding him guilty.
An Ontario Superior Court justice convicted Steele in 2010 of concealing a loaded handgun under the front passenger seat of his mother's car after being pulled over in Hamilton. There were four black men in the car and Steele alleges he's a victim of driving while black.
I don't care why he was stopped. I am glad the the police found an illegal handgun. The perpetrator should be punished according to law. He had an unregistered handgun, no authorization-to-transport, and most importantly, was not transporting it in accordance to the laws. He had the gun in a place that would indicate an intent to use it, and using it in Canada outside of a restricted range is illegal. He should NOT get off on a technicality that HE thinks the police were racially profiling him.
[quote author=The Professor link=topic=95040.msg610366#msg610366 date=1421177351]
I don't care why he was stopped. I am glad the the police found an illegal handgun. The perpetrator should be punished according to law. He had an unregistered handgun, no authorization-to-transport, and most importantly, was not transporting it in accordance to the laws. He had the gun in a place that would indicate an intent to use it, and using it in Canada outside of a restricted range is illegal. He should NOT get off on a technicality that HE thinks the police were racially profiling him.
[/quote]
The "technicality" you speak of is the constitutional right protecting citizens against arbitrary search, seizure, and detention.
It is now established law that a court can examine evidence of racial profiling if a constitutional challenged is mounted.
