No Legal Way Out : R v Ryan Domestic Abuse and the Defence of Duress

An RCMP sting caught Nicole Doucet (Ryan) trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband. It was supposed to be an open-and-shut case. It wasn't. She was acquitted on the basis of duress in a context of abuse. But her ordeal did not end there.

No Legal Way Out details the judicial process, media coverage, and legal implications of R v Ryan, a landmark case in Canadian law for all the wrong reasons. Appealed up to the Supreme Court of Canada, Doucet's acquittal was overturned, even though the court accepted that she had been abused. However, the court did issue a stay of proceedings so she could not be tried again. The court also castigated the RCMP for their actions, leading to an investigation that ultimately exonerated the force and garnered substantial media attention, much of it promoting stereotypes about abused women. The decision has had an enormously negative impact on public perceptions of domestic violence.

A quarter-century after R v Lavallee - which expanded the parameters of self-defence to include the experiences of abused women - R v Ryan limited the legal options for women seeking to escape intimate partner terrorism. No Legal Way Out is an unabashedly feminist analysis that explains why the court, the police, and the media let down all women trapped by abuse.

This book is essential reading for feminist and other legal scholars, scholars in political science and women's studies, and activists working with victims of intimate partner violence. It will also be of interest to many in the wider public.