In R. v. WILLIAMS, 2013 ONCA 477, July 12, 2012, the accused was convicted of the offence of second degree murder by a jury.  On appeal, he argued that a reasonable apprehension of bias arose because the trial judge (Whitten J.) conducted an earlier judicial interim release hearing into the same charge and commented favourably on the strength of the Crown’s case.

The Ontario Court of Appeal indicated that the “fact that Whitten J. presided at the appellant’s unsuccessful bail application and then at the trial, almost two years later, did not create a reasonable apprehension of bias. The trial judge’s expression of opinion at the bail hearing as to the strength of the Crown’s case was justified by the record before him and, indeed, was later borne out by the evidence called at the trial. The trial judge was not the trier of fact in this case and was not called upon to make any findings of credibility.”