A Surrey man should face a trial even though charges against him — first laid five years ago — were halted by a provincial court judge because his right to a timely trial was violated, B.C.’s top court says.
The Court of Appeal said the lower court judge wrongly calculated the length of the delay by including more than two years after a stay of proceedings issued so police could investigate further.
The three-justice division unanimously decided the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provision guaranteeing a trial within a reasonable time did not apply if an individual was not formally charged.
“The existence of an ongoing investigation after the stay of an original information, whether known to the accused or not, does not create an exception to that general principle in the absence of an element of illegitimacy or manipulation that would properly engage section 11(b) interests and the concerns addressed in Jordan,” Justice Christopher Grauer writes.
