Delay in manslaughter conviction violated client's rights, lawyers to argue

Lawyers for an Ottawa man are launching a legal challenge over the length of time it took for him to be convicted of manslaughter in the 2010 shooting death of 19-year-old Michael Swan, arguing the delay violated their client's charter rights.

Swan was shot in the early morning of Feb. 22, 2010, after three men broke into his Barrhaven home.

Later that day police tracked down and arrested three Toronto-area men, near Ganonoque, Ont. Sam Tsega, then 19, was not arrested and charged until the following September. 

Tsega was eventually convicted of manslaughter on June 30, 2016 — more than six years after Swan's death — but he has not yet been sentenced.

Now, Tsega's lawyers are preparing to argue that their client's charter right to a speedy trial was violated. 

Little more than a week after Tsega's conviction, the Supreme Court of Canada made a landmark ruling, which set new deadlines for completing trials. 

Provincial court trials which last longer than 18 months, or 30 months where a preliminary hearing is involved, are now considered "presumptively unreasonable." 

This test, however, does not apply when delays are caused by the defence team. 

Tsega's lawyers are set to argue their application at the end of March, with a sentencing hearing set for the following month.