Judge denies requests to stop murder trials
Three charged in Sen death, man accused of killing daughter had sought stays
A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied requests to place a stay of proceedings in two different murder cases after defence lawyers in both claimed their clients had waited too long for their trials.
Justice Guy Cournoyer made both decisions Monday afternoon, at the Montreal courthouse, one after the other, but the cases are not at all related.
In the first case, three men — Marlon Henry, 27, Rakesh Jankie, 28, and Shorn Carr, 35 — are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Fehmi Sen, a 28-year-old man who was shot near Kent Park in Côte-des-Neiges on May 30, 2013. The police believe that Sen was killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Carr is believed to be the driver of a vehicle that drove by a group Sen was with when he was shot. Henry is alleged to have pulled the trigger. Lawyers for all three accused argued a motion, in February, asking that all three men have a stay of proceedings placed on the murder charges they face. Their request was based on the Jordan decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada on July 8. It established firm limits on how long an accused should expect to wait for a trial in Canada. In the case of Superior Court cases the limit was set at 30 months.
However, the Supreme Court also established guidelines on how judges should deal with cases that existed before the July 8 decision was rendered.
Cournoyer noted that some of the delays in bringing the case to trial could be attributed to institutional delays (for example a shortage of judges for the Montreal judicial district) that are beyond the Crown’s control. But he also noted that a trial could have started in January but Carr’s lawyer was not available to proceed during that period.
Sen’s mother, Hanim Sen, had expressed concerns in recent weeks that all three men would see their cases placed under a stay of proceedings.
She appeared emotional as Cournoyer read from his decision. As she exited the courtroom she shouted: “Thank you. Thank you for justice!” She collapsed seconds later and had to be helped up by relatives.
Immediately after having made the decision involving the three men, Cournoyer made a similar decision in a case involving Kirk Ainsworth Howell, 40, a man charged with second-degree murder in the death of his six-year-old daughter, failing to provide the necessities of life to a child, and manslaughter.
Howell’s daughter died on July 1, 2008 and Ainsworth was first charged on April 18, 2012. In Howell’s case Cournoyer said some of the delays in bringing the case to trial could be attributed to the defence and, the judge noted, his lawyer turned down the opportunity of having a trial this past January.
At first, authorities were led to believe the girl died as the result of an accident, but following his arrest the Montreal police announced that after a lengthy investigation they believed it was a homicide based on the results of analysis done by experts.
Ainsworth’s trial returns to court on May 31.