Background
Lifchus was a stockbroker who misrepresented the value of a bond in his personal margin account to his employer, defrauding them of a substantial amount of money. He was charged with fraud and theft of over $1000.
Lifchus was convicted of fraud before a jury. He appealed on the ground that the jury was misinstructed about the standard of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt".
There were four issues before the Court: 1) Must a trial judge provide the jury with an explanation of the expression “reasonable doubt”? 2) If so, how should this concept be explained to the jury? 3) Did the charge in this case amount to a misdirection on the meaning of “reasonable doubt”? 4) If the charge in this case was insufficient, ought this Court give effect to the curative proviso set out at s. 686(1)(b)(iii) of the Criminal Code?
Read more about this topic: R. V. Lifchus
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