The applicant sought a stay of proceedings under s. 24(1) of the Charter due to an alleged violation of his s. 11(b) right to a trial within a reasonable time.
The total delay from charge to trial was 42 months.
The court attributed 4 months and 2 weeks to defence delay and 1 month and 3 weeks to a discrete event (court recording system failure), resulting in a net delay of 35 months and 3 weeks.
This exceeded the 30-month presumptive ceiling established in R. v. Jordan.
The Crown failed to demonstrate transitional exceptional circumstances to justify the delay, citing a general lack of diligence, including a year for disclosure and 12 months for a two-day preliminary inquiry.
The court found a violation of s. 11(b) and granted a stay of proceedings.