The applicant sought to revisit an earlier unsuccessful s. 11(b) Charter application after a mistrial in a fraud prosecution arising from the operation of a non-profit international adoption agency.
The court held that s. 653.1 of the Criminal Code creates a presumption that pre-mistrial Charter rulings remain binding unless the interests of justice require re-litigation.
Although the mistrial was attributable to investigative shortcomings by police and therefore to the Crown, only a limited additional period counted as institutional delay, leaving total Crown or institutional delay below the Morin lower range.
A fresh balancing of inferred prejudice against the significant societal interest in trying the allegations on the merits favoured continuation of the prosecution.
