Murder accused not victim of unreasonable trial delay, judge rules
Crystal Crowchild will stand trial this fall for murder in the death of a Calgary man eight years ago, after a judge ruled Friday she was not the victim of unreasonable delay.
Justice Robert Hall denied an application by defence lawyers Jim Lutz and Alias Sanders for a judicial stay based on the length of time Crowchild has been awaiting her third trial.
Hall handed Crown and defence lawyers copies of his written decision in the case.
“The end result of my decision is that I have denied the application for a stay,” Hall said. “Given the fact there have been two retrials (ordered), I find the delay was reasonable.”
Beginning Oct. 2, Crowchild is to stand trial for second-degree murder in the March 17, 2010, stabbing death of Aref Nassereddine.
She was arrested April 28, 2011, in the death of Nassereddine, 64, and has been in custody ever since.
Hall ruled the delays between each of Crowchild’s trials were not unreasonable, therefore, her overall delay could not result in a stay.
“I am of the view that, if the delay relative to each trial was reasonable in the circumstances that then existed, then the overall delay is also reasonable,” he said in his written decision.
Hall said while the total period Crowchild will have waited from her arrest to the end of her third trial will be seven and a half years, her net time, deducting delay caused by the defence, is just more than four years.
But he said the 30-month limit from arrest to end of trial, set by the Supreme Court in the Jordan case, doesn’t apply because new trials had been granted.
“The courts have recognized that if the Jordan ceilings were applied to cases in which an appeal was heard and a new trial ordered, then in almost all cases, there would never be a retrial because the Jordan ceiling would be exceeded,” Hall said.
“The application of such ceilings would render appeals ordering new trials futile, as the retrial would seldom, if ever, proceed in time.”
Crowchild was twice convicted by juries of second-degree murder in the stabbing of Nassereddine, but the Crown conceded her appeals because of improper jury charges.
Crowchild admitted stabbing Nassereddine in his southwest Calgary home after going there with him to have sex for cash.
She said after they had intercourse in his matrimonial bed, he asked for oral sex and she refused and began to leave.
Nassereddine, naked from the waist down, stopped her by the back door, and at that point, she grabbed a knife from the sink and stabbed him four times.
Her third trial will proceed before Hall without a jury.