'miscarriage of justice': thc driving charge stayed in crash that killed baeleigh maurice
a saskatoon judge found the crown caused an unreasonable delay that exceeded the supreme court's presumptive ceiling on trial delay.
5 minute read
rochelle cook (front left) and sarah smokeday (front right) address the staying of charges against taylor ashley kennedy, 28.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
the life of nine-year-old baeleigh emily maurice was “stolen” when she was struck by a vehicle and killed at a saskatoon intersection while walking to school, an fsin vice-chief says. “now, potentially, her opportunity for justice might be stolen, too,” federation of sovereign indigenous nations (fsin) fourth vice-chief craig mccallum said on tuesday in the aftermath of a saskatoon judge’s ruling that there was an unreasonable delay in the trial of the saskatoon woman who hit and killed maurice.
on friday, saskatoon provincial court judge jane wootten stayed taylor ashley kennedy’s charge of driving with a blood-thc level higher than the legal limit, causing death.
wootten ruled that after deducting the court delays caused by the defence, the crown exceeded the supreme court’s established time frame for how long a case should take between charges being laid and the trial’s conclusion.
in most cases, a stay of proceeding means the charge will be dropped unless new information reopens the case within one year. in cases where a judge enters a stay due to a charter breach, the stay is final unless successfully challenged at the court of appeal.
“we believed that they would get to feel some sort of justice served, and last friday, our hearts were ripped out because, once again, we watch the justice system fail,” said sarah smokeyday, a friend who spoke on behalf of maurice’s mother rochelle cook at a press conference on tuesday.
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sarah smokeyday speaks at a press conference addressing the staying of charges against taylor ashley kennedy, 28, in saskatoon on dec. 17, 2024.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
cook said in a statement that “every day has been a roller coaster of emotions since taylor kennedy took my baby’s life. i miss her terribly. her friends and family miss her terribly.
“christmas is coming and you can imagine how difficult it is for our family. all i want for christmas is to hold and kiss my baby one more time.”
kennedy was driving a truck when she struck maurice while the girl was in a crosswalk on her scooter at the intersection of 33rd street and avenue g around 9 a.m. on sept. 9, 2021.
she was charged in march 2022. her trial began in october 2023. most of the trial was in a voir dire to determine the admissibility of evidence, and to hear several charter applications from the defence.
defence lawyer thomas hynes argued that kennedy was denied a trial within a reasonable time due to a net delay of 23 months — attributed to the crown — between the time charges were laid and when delay arguments were made in august.
the supreme court’s r. v. jordan decision requires provincial court trials to conclude within 18 months of charges being laid, unless the crown can justify “exceptional circumstances” for its role in the delay.
taylor kennedy hurries into provincial court in saskatoon, sask. on thursday, july 18, 2024. (michelle berg/saskatoon starphoenix)
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
crown prosecutor mike pilon argued that some of the delay should be attributed to a covid-related backlog, as well as court time spent rendering decisions on constitutional and charter challenges.
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“the crown could not point to any exceptional circumstances that otherwise justified how long the case took. in those circumstances, the judge’s only option under the law was to stay the proceeding,” hynes said.
“the defence maintains that even if the judge had not stayed the charge for delay, the judge would have gone on to find the police had violated several of ms. kennedy’s charter rights during the initial investigation, such that the judge would have gone on to exclude key evidence against (her).”
the crown did not respond to a request for comment.
mccallum called the court ruling “a miscarriage of justice.” he stressed that “this isn’t an issue of race,” but rather a “failure of the courts” and “a failure of our collective responsibility to protect our most vulnerable — our children — in the spirit of reconciliation.
“it’s really unthinkable that, in a time when we profess that every child matters, that a system prioritized procedural timelines over the life of a child.”
smokeyday said she feels “there was a lot of conversation about the laws and laws that would be challenged. there was a lot of conversation about the rights of someone who admitted to their own guilt. but there wasn’t a lot of conversation around the victim, baeleigh, and the victims that are surviving: her family.”
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officers at the crash scene administered an oral fluid test followed by a blood test after kennedy told a saskatoon police officer she used cannabis and micro-dosed psilocybin the night before the crash.
rcmp said charges weren’t laid until 2022 because of pandemic-related toxicology result delays at the rcmp lab. it was the first time anyone had been charged with driving with a blood-thc level higher than the legal limit causing death in saskatchewan.
hynes argued that a series of breaches — including not providing kennedy the right to speak with a lawyer in a timely manner and the delayed collection of her saliva sample — led to the roadside blood test being unconstitutional, and the results inadmissible.
in a prior decision during the trial, wootten ruled that officers did not force kennedy to disclose her drug use.
beyond urging an appeal in this specific case, pasqua first nation chief todd peigan and the fsin called for changes to the justice system to ensure the “nine-year-old, vibrant, happy girl did not leave this earth in vain.”
the proposed changes include: prioritizing cases involving fatalities if the victim is under 16; implementing protections against procedural delays in cases involving the death of a child; reducing allowable time for trial delays; enhancing sentencing in cases involving a child if impairment is due to alcohol, drugs or other substances; prohibiting stays in child death cases; and reevaluating impaired driving legislation cases in which the victim is a child.
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“some people have called out racism in this decision. we all know this is not about race,” cook stressed.
“this is about justice and preventing any family in this province from going through this ever again.”
editor’s note: this story has been edited to clarify the duration of a judicial stay of proceeding.
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