The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the case of the former Toronto police officer James Forcillo who fatally shot Sammy Yatim on a streetcar in 2013. The decision marks the conclusion of a legal saga that prompted public outrage, spawned a review of Toronto police use of force and saw the unprecedented attempted murder conviction — by a jury — of a Canadian police officer in an on-duty death.“It’s done,” Yatim’s mother, Sahar Bahadi, said when reached by phone Thursday moments after the decision was released, saying it was a decision she expected but was nonetheless relieved to hear.“Still, nothing will compensate me. I lost my son, and nothing will bring him back to me.”Forcillo applied earlier this year to have his case heard at Canada’s highest court after the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously upheld his conviction and six-year prison sentence in May. Michael Lacy, one of Forcillo’s lawyers, tweeted Thursday that he respected the decision from Canada’s highest court.“This ends the legal proceedings and Mr. Forcillo will now continue to serve out his sentence,” Lacy wrote.The bar to have an appeal heard at the Supreme Court of Canada is high, and the majority of cases don’t meet it. In recent years, the court has accepted only about 11 per cent of the applications it received. Among the requirements is that the case presents an issue of national importance. The conviction of a Canadian police officer by a jury will be held in the public memory for years, said Patrick Watson, a criminologist who teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University and researches police-involved shootings and the use of video evidence. That’s in no small part because “it showed that, yes, there is police accountability in some circumstances.”“The public significance can’t be overlooked,” Watson said. Read more: Lawyer blasts delays in case of officer accused of excess ...
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