ANTIGONISH: An appeal by a former StFX student on a sexual assault conviction has been dismissed.
RCMP charged James Stanton after a November 2017 incident in a female student’s dorm room during a party at MacKinnon Hall.
Stanton stood trial, yet he didn’t testify; the only evidence of the actual alleged assault was that of the victim and the trial judge found him guilty.
He appealed his conviction, pleading the trial judge errored in law by failing to properly direct himself, or apply proper legal principles when assessing the reliability and credibility of witnesses; by using improper reasoning in his application of the Crown’s burden of proof, particularly in relation to the evaluation of evidence to support the finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; and by not providing sufficient reasoning.
Stanton’s appeal, which was heard in Antigonish Supreme Court on December 19, 2019, was dismissed in a written decision on February 27.
The Honourable Justice N.M. Scaravelli’s decision stated the trial judge provided a lengthy decision in which he reviewed in detail the victim’s direct and cross-examination, the evidence of the other Crown witnesses, as well as the evidence of the two witnesses testifying on behalf of the defence.
“The trial judge acknowledged the defence theory that [the victim] had engaged in consensual intercourse with the appellant and decided to make a false complaint of sexual assault when he informed her the next morning that it would not happen again.”
He believed the trial judge made reasonable findings on this issue and that he did not commit any palpable or overriding errors.
“In short, I find that the appellant has not shown that the trial judge committed palpable and overriding error by his approach to assessing the evidence,” Scaravelli said. “In my view, the specific points defence counsel point to in arguing that the trial judge erred taken individually are in most cases explained by the trial judge’s reasons or can be explained based on the record.”