Trial judge's decision not to be set aside lightly

R. v. C.L.J., 2011 ABCA 176 is a useful decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal setting out the high standard required before a trial judge’s decision will be set aside as unreasonable:

 

 

[13]           We are only justified in intervening to set aside the trial judge’s verdict if it is unreasonable, for example, if it appears that he was not alive to an applicable legal principle or that he entered a verdict inconsistent with a factual conclusion reached: R v Biniaris, 2000 SCC 15 (CanLII), 2000 SCC 15, [2000] 1 SCR 381. We find no such justification in this case. That is, we cannot say that a conviction was not reasonably possible on the evidence the trial judge heard.

 

 

[14]           On issues of credibility, the standard of review is particularly high: Housen v Nikolaisen, 2002 SCC 33 (CanLII), 2002 SCC 33, [2002] 2 SCR 235, paras 18 and 25. …