The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal overturned a 2019 decision to stay charges against two former Canadian Coast Guard employees.
Brian Stone and Kevin Barnes, both then senior Coast Guard executives, were accused of using more than $ 170,000 in Coast Guard funds to purchase components used in marine tracking technology they owned. developed together. The couple eventually sold the technology back to the Coast Guard for a profit through a company they had incorporated.
Stone and Barnes were charged with fraud over $ 5,000 and breach of trust in May 2015.
When their trial date was pushed back to 2019, the defendants successfully contested that the 53-month, 17-day deadline violated their right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to have a trial within 30 months. their indictment.
But a decision filed in the province’s Court of Appeal on Monday said the then trial judge “erred in applying relevant legal principles to stay proceedings due to delay.”
Stone and Barnes wanted information on the hard drives of their Coast Guard computers as part of their defense, according to the court ruling, but did not file a request for the information to be released in a timely manner and delayed their trial unnecessarily.
“In short, the defendants had ample opportunity, from the time the charges were laid, to obtain the additional information they were seeking in time to prepare for the trial on June 29, 2018,” reads. one in the decision.
“However, they did not act on time, in fact, showing marked indifference to the passage of time.”
The appellate judges argued that Stone and Barnes took advantage of the time limit to file the disclosure requests and, therefore, reduced the time limit that applied to the 30 month time limit under the Charter.
The ruling also revealed that an 11-month delay was due to Stone’s change of lawyer and the unavailability of Barnes’ lawyer.
In total, estimated the Court of Appeal, the total period of 53 months and 17 days could be reduced to only 27 months, “which is lower than the presumed ceiling of 30 months of delay”.
It is not yet clear whether Stone and Barnes will stand trial on the charges following the appeal decision.
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