W. Glover

This ruling addresses a s. 11(b) Charter application for a stay of proceedings due to unreasonable delay.

The applicant, charged with sexual assault and touching for a sexual purpose, argued that the total delay of 33 months and 16 days exceeded the 30-month presumptive ceiling established in R. v. Jordan.

The Crown attributed significant portions of the delay to defence conduct and exceptional circumstances.

The court analyzed the procedural chronology, attributing 120 days of delay to the defence, primarily due to counsel's availability for the preliminary inquiry and a delay in responding to a pretrial invitation.

With this defence delay deducted, the net delay fell to 29 months and 2 days, below the presumptive ceiling.

Consequently, the onus shifted to the applicant to prove the delay was unreasonable, which they did not attempt.

The application for a stay of proceedings was dismissed.

The applicant, James McLeod, brought a motion for a stay of proceedings under section 11(b) of the Charter due to unreasonable delay.

The total delay from the information being sworn to the anticipated trial completion was 677 days, exceeding the 18-month presumptive ceiling for the Ontario Court of Justice.

The court attributed 159 days of delay to the defence as an implicit, clear, and unequivocal waiver during resolution discussions, where the defence prioritized seeking a favourable resolution over asserting the right to a timely trial.

An additional 129 days were attributed to the defence for failing to proactively raise s. 11(b) concerns in a timely manner after trial dates were set, which prevented the Crown from mitigating the delay.

After deducting these periods, the net delay was 389 days, falling below the presumptive ceiling.

Consequently, the application for a stay of proceedings was dismissed.

The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of impaired driving causing death.

While impaired by alcohol, the accused operated a motor vehicle on Fingal Line near St. Thomas with two passengers, both of whom were killed when the vehicle struck a telephone pole.

The accused fled the scene and was apprehended with the assistance of a police K-9 unit.

The sentencing court imposed a global sentence of four and one-half years imprisonment, with a ten-year driving prohibition, balancing the paramount principles of general deterrence and denunciation against mitigating factors including the accused's early guilty plea, lack of prior record, genuine remorse, and the time spent in pre-trial custody and strict bail conditions.