ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
Central West Region
BETWEEN:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING
— AND —
DaVID DUKE
Application Heard Before Mr. Justice Richard H.K. Schwarzl
on December 18, 2025 and January 7, 2026
Reasons released on February 2, 2026
Mr. Vikramjeet Aujla for the Crown/Respondent
Ms. Kathryn Doyle for the Defendant/Applicant
SCHWARZL, J.:
REASONS FOR 11(b) CHARTER RULING
1.0: INTRODUCTION
[1.] The Applicant, David Duke, was charged with two offences arising from a road rage incident. A trial was held before me resulting in verdicts of guilty on the offence of dangerous driving (Count #1) and not guilty on the charge of assault causing bodily harm (Count #2). He has made an Application alleging that his right to be tried within a reasonable time as guaranteed by section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been violated. As a remedy, he seeks a judicial stay of proceedings.
[2.] What follows are my reasons for allowing this Application and staying the proceedings.
2.0: APPLICABLE LEGAL PRINCIPLES
[3.] Applications made under section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are to be decided using the principles set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 and its progeny. Jordan established that in Provincial Court, a trial must be completed within 18 months to avoid a stay of proceedings for want of prosecution.
[4.] In R. v. Coulter, 2016 ONCA 704, the Ontario Court of Appeal the following helpful step-by-step analytical framework:
Step
Action
Calculate the Total Delay, being the time between the laying of the Information and the scheduled last trial date.
From the Total Delay, subtract defence delay, which includes both defence waivers and defence-caused delay. The result of this arithmetic is known as Net Delay.
Compare the Net Delay to the presumptive ceiling (in this case, 18 months).
If the Net