The Supreme Court of Canada has surprised some who tried to second-guess it. They thought the SCOC might adjust its recent ruling that unless a case against a criminal accused is heard in 18 months it must be thrown out. But the court voted 7-0 in an appeal reported today which sustains that limit. This expectation has many Crown Attorneys and police services reeling as they try to figure out how to move matters along when it may well be in the interest of the accused to slow them down. They are concerned that many cases are getting tossed out since the SCOC’s decision in the so-called Jordan case last year. Oddly, the divide among the justices at that time was 5-4. The appeal before the court this time was that of a Newfoundland accused drug dealer who waited five years for a five-day trial. CBC story provides some nuancing on court’s intentions and a seven-year case where the accused manipulated the system to create delays.
