Another drug case tossed due to delay at the Brampton courthouse, another judge calling out the federal prosecution service for failing to provide timely disclosure of evidence to the defence. Superior Court Justice David E. Harris went as far as describing what happened in a drug importation case as âCrown negligence,â according to a ruling released on Christmas Eve. He stayed the case against Chanelle Belle, who had been charged in October 2016 with importing seven kilograms of cocaine through Pearson International Airport and was originally supposed to face a trial last June.âOn the eve of trial in Superior Court, the Crown disclosed a mountain of information extracted from the applicantâs cellphone, 12,000 pages in all,â Harris wrote. âThis could have and should have been provided many months before. No explanation of any kind has been provided. Nor is any extenuating circumstance imaginable.â As a result of the late disclosure, the trial was rescheduled for February 2019 â which would have marked 28 months since Belleâs arrest. A landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling known as R v. Jordan set strict timelines to bring accused persons to trial; in Superior Court, that limit is 30 months between a personâs arrest and the anticipated conclusion of their trial. If the ceiling is breached, the case must be tossed unless the Crown can prove there were exceptional circumstances for the delay. However, the Supreme Court left the door open for cases to also be tossed if they fell below the ceiling but met certain criteria. Harris concluded this was one of those rare cases. âDisclosure had to be made in a timely way to afford the defence an opportunity to defend against it or to make use of it for their own purposes,â Harris wrote. âThe Crown clearly failed in its fair trial obligations by disclosing the evidence at the eleventh hour.â Read more:Judges denounce âegregious’ ...
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