According to the Criminal Code, uttering death threats or making threats of bodily harm to any person is a criminal offence. Threatening to burn or otherwise damage personal property or making threats against any animals owned by a person is also punishable under this law. Uttering death threats and writing death threats either in printed form or online are also illegal. Penalties depend on whether the defendant is prosecuted by a summary conviction or indictment at trial. In order to convict an individual of uttering death threats, the Crown has to prove that the defendant committed the action knowingly with the intent to convey harm to another individual.

Possible Penalties

Penalties for uttering death threats in Ontario depend on the prosecution. Most death threat cases are prosecuted by summary conviction, which requires a trial before the Ontario provincial court. The maximum penalty for a summary conviction is six months in prison. If the prosecution decides to pursue an indictment, the defendant has the right to either settle a plea bargain or go to trial by jury. The maximum penalty for a defendant in a trial by jury is five years in prison. The prosecution often decides between these two options based on a few things. Including the defendant’s criminal record, the personal history between the defendant and the victim of the death threats, and the overall severity of the threats themselves.

What the Crown has to Prove

The prosecution must prove that the threats were made knowingly and with the intent to intimidate the victim. The prosecution must show that the defendant was fully aware of what his or her words were meant to convey. It must be proven that the defendant intended their words to be taken seriously.

The Crown is not required to prove that the defendant was capable or willing to act on his or her threats against the victim. This is a common misconception. To be convicted, the defendant only has to be proven to have made the threats with the intent of intimidation, not actual harm. The intended recipient could also have never even gotten the threats for the defendant to be convicted. The defendant can therefore be charged even if he or she did not intend for the recipient of the threats to see them.

For the words used by the defendant to be considered a threat by the court, the court must determine if the words themselves should be considered a threat by a reasonable person, in the context of the situation between the defendant and the victim. How the words were interpreted by the victim is part of this assessment. The law is intended to sanction against threats intended to intimidate another person. The victim claiming that he or she perceived otherwise innocuous words to be a death threat is not enough. The words used in the threat must be perceived by the victim as a threat, and the prosecution has to establish that the words used were not innocently made or made in jest. This can be a complicated law to enforce, so defendants should seek expert legal advice when faced with this serious accusation.

Trust Your Best Defence

In order for a person to be convicted of uttering death threats, the victim need not know if the threat was made; only that the exact words used were established in court as intended to intimidate the victim. Whether or not the threat could have been carried out is irrelevant. As is the motive for making the threats in the first place. If you have been accused of uttering death threats, contact Donna V. Pledge for the best legal advice.