Ontario criminal | Appeal
PLEA OF GUILTY
Appeal from refusal to strike pleas dismissed
Accused appealed from her plea of guilty to two charges of fraud and one charge of uttering forged document. Fraud charges related to credit applications made to banks. Uttering charge involved forged documents used to obtain passport for accused’s daughter. Accused had pleaded guilty to same charges some four years earlier and successfully moved to strike those pleas. Matter then proceeded through courts until second guilty pleas were entered in January 2014. Five months later, accused again moved to strike her guilty pleas but this time her motion failed. Accused appealed from refusal to strike pleas. Appeal dismissed. Trial judge found accused to be articulate and smart and had no doubt but that accused knew exactly what she was doing when she pleaded guilty and she knew consequences of her action. Trial judge did not observe any reluctance to engage in plea process whatsoever at time it was taken. Trial judge’s observations were fully warranted on record.
R. v. Kirpichova (Sep. 17, 2015, Ont. C.A., Doherty J.A., M.H. Tulloch J.A., and Grant Huscroft J.A., File No. CA C58952) 124 W.C.B. (2d) 542.
