The defendant, Joshua Kowal, brought a s. 11(b) Charter application alleging unreasonable delay in his trial for impaired driving and refusal to provide a bodily sample.
The total post-charge delay was 27 months and 22 days.
The court applied the Jordan framework, deducting periods of delay solely attributable to the defence, including inaction in seeking disclosure, delays in scheduling pre-trials, and errors in trial scheduling.
The court found 330 days of defence delay, reducing the net delay to 16 months and 27 days, which is below the 18-month presumptive ceiling for provincial courts.
The court further found that the defendant did not demonstrate a sustained effort to expedite proceedings and that the case had not taken "markedly longer" than it reasonably should have, considering the pandemic.
The application was dismissed.
