Judge stays THC-impaired driving causing death charge against Saskatoon woman because trial went too long

A judge has stayed a charge of impaired driving causing death against a Saskatoon woman because the trial went longer than a limit set by the Supreme Court.

Nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice was crossing a street on Sept. 9, 2021, when Taylor Kennedy fatally hit her with a half-ton truck. At the time, Kennedy admitted to police she had vaped cannabis and microdosed psilocybin mushrooms the day before.

Kennedy was charged on March 15, 2022. Final arguments in the trial took place Aug. 30, 2024. Earlier this year, defence lawyer Thomas Hynes argued that the charge should be stayed because the case had taken an unreasonable length of time.

On Friday, provincial court Judge Jane Wootten agreed.

"I have no recourse but to stay the charge," she told a courtroom filled with Maurice's family and their supporters.

After a moment of silence, a woman in the back of the court exclaimed "Oh my God," followed by screaming and crying and profanity directed at the judge and the justice system. The shock and anger continued outside the courthouse.

"I don't want people to forget this little girl," said Baeleigh's aunt, Rhane Mahingen, holding up a sweatshirt with Baeleigh's photo on the front.

"This little girl deserves justice, and that is not what we got."

Outside court, Hynes said the trial clearly went over the limit set by the Supreme Court.

"We've been saying for some time now the trial has taken too long. We appreciate the care that the judge gave to reviewing all the details," he said.

"This was a prosecution that was flawed from the get go. It took far longer than it should have. This wasn't a close to the ceiling case — this was a substantially over the ceiling case. We're expecting the prosecution to disagree with that. We expect they'll file a notice of appeal shortly and we look forward to beating them at the Court of Appeal, too."

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Hynes argued that the case has exceeded the 18-month standard for provincial court cases. He calculated that, outside reasonable delays, the case had taken 23 months.

Prosecutor Michael Pilon contested Hynes's math and his reasoning, stating delays during the COVID-19 pandemic should be factored into the situation.

Pilon also said the court should consider how the constitutional and Charter challenges the defence pursued complicated the case. He argued that when all reasonable delays were factored in, the case had taken about 14 months.

Math on the bench

Wootten spent almost two hours going through a detailed timeline of the case, keeping a tally of the various delays and allotting responsibility for each delay.

Issues that contributed included whether the parties underestimated the number of days needed for trial, time required to address constitutional and Charter questions, and a backlog in cases because of the pandemic.

Because the case went beyond the Supreme Court ceiling of 18 months, the onus rests with the Crown to justify the delays.

Wootten said a court backlog had likely developed because of COVID-19, but that period could not be quantified, "and I cannot make a finding of fact without evidence," she said.

Pilon declined to comment.