Homicide and Murder Defence Lawyer in Brampton, ON

Homicide is causing the death of a human being, directly or indirectly, by any means. Section 222 of the Criminal Code divides homicide into culpable and non-culpable. Non-culpable homicide is not an offence at all. Culpable homicide is murder, manslaughter or infanticide.

That distinction matters more than most people expect. A death alone does not make a crime. The Crown must prove that the death was culpable, that this accused caused it, and that the accused had the state of mind the particular offence requires. Each of those is a separate question, and each can be contested.

Section 222(5) sets out how culpable homicide is committed: by means of an unlawful act, by criminal negligence, by causing a person to do something that causes their own death through threats, fear of violence or deception, or by wilfully frightening a child or sick person.

Murder requires a specific state of mind. Under section 229, culpable homicide is murder where the person meant to cause death, or meant to cause bodily harm they knew was likely to cause death and was reckless whether death followed. Manslaughter, under section 234, is culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide.

The practical consequence is large. A conviction for murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Manslaughter carries no mandatory minimum at all unless a firearm was used. A great deal of homicide defence work is therefore directed at the accused's state of mind rather than at whether a death occurred.

Section 230, which once allowed a murder conviction without proof of intent where death occurred during another offence, was repealed in 2019. Intent must now be proved.

If you have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder, see our page on manslaughter charges for how that offence is defended and sentenced.

Section 231 classifies murder. Murder is first degree when it is planned and deliberate. It is also first degree, whether or not it was planned, in a list of defined circumstances. All murder that is not first degree murder is second degree murder.

Murder is first degree irrespective of planning where:

Section 231(5.1) is recent. It was added by 2026, c. 12 and makes femicide and killings involving coercive control of an intimate partner first degree murder regardless of planning. Anyone relying on older material about how murder is classified should treat it with caution.

Section 235 requires a sentence of imprisonment for life for both first and second degree murder, and section 235(2) states expressly that the life sentence is a minimum punishment. A judge has no discretion to impose less.

What a judge can sometimes set is the period before parole may be sought. Under section 745:

Parole ineligibility is not release. It is the earliest point at which the Parole Board may be asked to consider release, and a life sentence continues for the rest of the person's life whether or not parole is granted.

Murder under section 235 is listed in section 469 of the Criminal Code. Under section 522, only a judge of the superior court of criminal jurisdiction can release a person charged with a section 469 offence. The Ontario Court of Justice cannot grant bail on a murder charge.

The onus is also reversed. Section 522(2) requires the judge to order detention unless the accused shows cause why detention is not justified, by clearly demonstrating that a proposed release plan addresses the risks in section 515(10). That means the defence must arrive with a plan, sureties and a proposal, not simply an argument.

Manslaughter is not listed in section 469, so bail on a manslaughter charge is dealt with in the ordinary way in the Ontario Court of Justice.

There is no single template. A homicide defence is built from the disclosure, and the realistic avenues usually fall into a small number of categories.

Homicide files are document-heavy and expert-heavy. They commonly involve pathology, toxicology, digital forensics, cell-site records and video. The work of the defence is to test each of those rather than to accept the Crown's theory of how the death happened.

No lawyer can promise a result on a homicide charge, and you should be careful of any who does.