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Comment by qingcharles | Hacker News Reader

I don't know Canadian law. Once a prosecution is started, must it be completed within the statute of limitations for that crime?

I think that's how it generally works in the USA. Because the prosecution is stayed you lose the right to a speedy trial, but the statute of limitations still ticks.

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In Canada we have the right to be tried in a reasonable amount of time. The Supreme Court of Canada put strict time limits in place in R. V. Jordan.

For cases without a preliminary inquiry (which this would be) the Crown has 18 months from the arrest to bring the case to trial. For cases with a preliminary inquiry it's 30 months.

Since he was arrested April 2022 that means he must be tried before the end of 2024, or the charges withdrawn.

There is no statue of limitations in Canadian law.

There is no statute of limitations, generally, but Canada does recognize the right to a speedy trial. The Charter of Rights And Freedoms [1] 11b says "Any person charged with an offence has the right ... to be tried within a reasonable time".

Common law interpretation through R. v. Jordan [2] establishes a presumptive ceiling on the time between charges and trial, "18 months for cases tried in the provincial court, and 30 months for cases in the superior court".

In the US statutes of limitations vary between jurisdictions and offenses; some start the clock ticking at the commission of the criminal act, others at when it comes to light, and others when it is reported to law enforcement. This is in addition to the right to a speedy trial, but the US does not have any uniform guidance on what "speedy" means and generally courts do not entertain speedy trial motions.

[1] https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html

[2] https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/16057/inde...

There are generally three types of speedy trial rights in the USA, depending on where you live. Federal constitutional right, State constitutional right, and State/federal statutory right. The federal one is vague and hand-wavy and only defined in case law. Usually the same with State constitutional right. The statutory rights are usually more explicit and often define an exact number of days and how those days are calculated, e.g. Illinois it is 120 days.

Courts definitely do entertain them. I've seen dozens over the years and there are thousands of examples of successful challenges in case law. I can think of several weird examples off the top of my head:

1) Guy from Hawaii transferred to mainland prison, murder case reversed for new trial on appeal, State doesn't do the paperwork to fly him back from prison to Hawaii within 180 days, then tries to blame it on the prisoner for not getting himself to his own trial :D

2) Guy burgles building which is built on a county line. State charges him in the wrong county (he burgled the other side of the building); tries to change venue, judge says they blew out their speedy trial days holding him in the wrong county.

3) I personally lost a year. I was in jail before COVID broke out. I filed for my 120 day speedy. There's no exception in the Illinois statute for emergencies (unlike the federal statute). Illinois Supreme Court unilaterally modifies the statute without involving the legislature. I didn't go to court for over a year, just stuck in a flooded cell. Filed a motion to dismiss for speedy trial violation and violation of the Illinois constitution for having the court create a new law. Illinois Supreme Court rules that it can do whatever the fuck it wants because they are the ones who have the final say on a motion and they are not going to find against themselves lol

"Where, as here, a statute and a supreme court rule governing court procedure cannot be reconciled, the statute must give way to the rule." (a rule created without consultation over-rides a law created by lawmakers!)

https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/2023/128...

Specifically, there is no statute of limitations for indictable criminal offences, the equivalent of a felony. Minor offences have a limit of one year. Civil matters have a limit in many provinces, too.

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