Stephen R. Biss

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Area Served

Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Orangeville, Milton, Burlington, Oakville

Biography

In private practice in the Greater Toronto Area since 1979. Past Part-time Assistant Crown Attorney. Past President of the Peel Criminal Lawyers Association. Past webmaster of the Ontario Criminal Lawyers Association.

Education

University of Toronto, B.A. University of Ottawa, LL.B.

Litigation Experience

Extensive Crown and defence litigation experience in Youth Court and adult court.

Notable Cases

G v. M [1981] O.J. No. 1817 Enforcement of interprovincial maintenance order R. v. Michael Joseph R. 9 W.C.B. 453, [1983] O.J. No. 675, (Ont. P.C.) Prohibition on use of cautions and contacts in juvenile sentencing under JDA, Magna Carta in Canadian law C.A.S. v. S.L. [1983] O.J. No. 2040 R. v. J.N. [1984] O.J. No. 671 Does Ontario have Youth Court Judges? Challenge to Jurisdiction under YOA R. v. G.M (1985) 24 C.C.C. (3d) 288, (Ont. P.C.) [1986] O.J. No. 2755, (Ont. H.C.) Constitutional Validity of section 33 of the Young Offenders Act. R. v. M.(J.) [1986] O.J. No. 1665, (Ont. P.C.) Defence to being habitually absent from school R. v. M.(T.E.G.) [1987] O.J. 1893 (Ont. P.C.) Search and seizure in youth's bedroom by foster parent C.A.S. v. B.(C.) [1988] O.J. No. 2386 R. v. J.(J.) (1988) 43 C.C.C. (3d) 257, 65 C.R. (3d) 371 (Ont. C.A.), leave to appeal to S.C.C. refused April 6, 1989 Applicability of section 56(2) of the Young Offenders Act to victim's witness statement in sexual abuse public mischief case. R. v. M.(I.A.) [1991] O.J. No. 837 (Ont. P.C.) YOA statement issues, acquittal on charges of conspiracy to murder and counselling murder R. v. M [1993] O.J. No.894, (Ont. P.D.) Counsel for Crown, right to counsel and exclusion of evidence CAS of Peel v. V.P. [1994] O.J. No. 1800, (Ont. P.D.) Counsel for Child, Charter application on behalf of child, jurisdiction issue lack of notice R. v. O.S. [1995] O.J. No. 2174, (Ont. P.D.) Sentencing for robbery armed with a knife R. v. I [2000] O.J. No. 2764, (Ont. C.J.) Need for interpreter in understanding right to counsel and breath demands R. v. C [2003] O.J. No. 3161, (Ont. C.J.) Defective Notice re Certificate of Analysis R. v. B [2003] O.J. No. 3164 Information a nullity because marihuana possession not an offence known to law, Magna Carta in Canadian law R. v. D [2004] O.J. No. 1509 Reason for the Stop driving out of a bar, Right to Counsel on Detention R. v. H [2004] O.J. No. 3253 Unreasonable Delay, Challenge to Adult Brampton Blitz Court R. v. H [2004] O.J. No. 3254 Arbitrary Detention and Search at Seatbelt Stop R. v. A [2004] O.J. No. 5189 Bail Hearing Evidence, Probative Value R. v. C [2005] O.J. No. 6198 Right to Counsel of Choice, Access to Palm Pilot and Internet Yellow Pages R. v. C [2005] O.J. No. 6204 Impaired driving Evidence, Defence Video Images of Traffic and Survey of 1 km of Roadway R. v. C.A. [2005] O.J. No. 1545 Unreasonable Delay, Challenge to Brampton Blitz Court, Youth Court R. v. C [2005] O.J. No. 3037 Disclosure, Intoxilyzer and Simulator Maintenance Log R. v. I [2006] O.J. No. 5578 Systemic Delay, Toronto Old City Hall Overbooking by Trial Co-ordinator R. v. N [2006] O.J. No. 4914 Standard Alcohol Solution Stability and Expiry Dates R. v. F [2008] O.J. No. 3211 Gap principle in sentencing, 11 year gap after multiple priors R. v. W [2009] O.J. No. 332 Fail to remain, grounds for arrest R. v. K [2009] O.J. No. 1084 Care or Control, vehicle inoperability, 258(1)(a) presumption R. v. B et. al. [2010] O.J. No. 2302 Disclosure under Bill C-2, complex constitutional issues, 4 Orangeville DUI cases resulting in three careless driving resolutions and one licence prohibition reduction from 12 months to three months R. v. F [2011] O.J. No. 2928 Ventolin inhaler interferent effect, alcohol standard log breach of protocol, observation deprivation period R. v. M. 2013 ONCJ 230 Quality Assurance and Quality Control during hospital blood analysis following MVC, blood evidence of blood alcohol concentration, fatality case dealt with as impaired / over 80 / dangerous simpliciter R. v. W 2013 ONCJ 407 Availability of approved instrument to defence Bar and independent experts, use of #duisimulator by qualified technician R. v. O 2014 ONCJ 440 Disclosure of complete (55 fields wide and full sequences) COBRA data in native raw text format rather than paper or pdf

Instructional Experience

Instructor and organizer of Continuing Education Programs for defence lawyers. Many courses are online at www.udemy.com under "Stephen Biss" and at lawyers.wiziq.com. Live substantive and professionalism courses for Canadian defence lawyers are provided at my office and elsewhere. I have lectured at the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Criminal Lawyers Association of Ontario, and in the United States. I am actively involved in research with defence lawyers in other provinces. More information about my instructional courses on Intoxilyzers, COBRA data, Approved Drug Screening Equipment, and Canada's new DUI laws,can be found at www.impaired-driving.com and www.duimetrology.com.