Lengthy delay causes Crown to drop charges

Suspect blinded after being shot in head by police prior to his arrest

The lengthy delay in getting to trial a man who was blinded by police gunfire as he was allegedly running down an elderly couple has resulted in his charges being dropped.

Defence lawyer Andrea Urquhart said Thursday she received notice from Crown prosecutor Darren Maloney the case would no be proceeding to trial this month.

Her client, Jason Harron, lost his eyesight when police opened fire on May 14, 2013, as he was driving in the city’s northwest.

“This has been a very long ordeal for Mr. Harron,” Urquhart said in a prepared statement.

“While he is relieved about this outcome he was looking forward to his day in court,” she said.

Harron was to stand trial beginning Nov. 14, on two charges each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and causing injury while fleeing police.

On the day of his arrest officers were investigating near 101 Crowfoot Way N.W. when they located a suspect vehicle parked outside of a bank.

An ASIRT review found the driver allegedly reversed the vehicle, struck a parked police car then drove forward onto a sidewalk, striking the couple.

An officer fired twice, striking Harron in the head, permanently blinding him.

His trial was to begin 42 months after the day he was charged, although some of the delay was attributable to the defence.

The decision to drop the case was made in light of a recent Supreme Court decision putting timelines on how long the Crown can take to prosecute cases.

The nation’s top court said delays of more than 30 months in getting trials completed in Court of Queen’s Bench would be considered a breach of an accused’s right to trial within a reasonable period of time.

It would then be up to the Crown to try to justify the delay.

Both Urquhart and co-counsel Tonii Roulston had filed a motion seeking to have the charges stayed based on several alleged Charter breaches, including unreasonable delay.

In their written submissions the lawyers also argued Harron was a victim of excessive force after one officer shot him twice in the face, requiring surgery to remove both his eyes.

They said after being shot, and slumped over the driver’s wheel with blood pouring from his wounds, Harron was pulled from the vehicle, placed face down on the ground and handcuffed.

Urquhart said Harron was looking forward to arguing his rights were breached because of the police conduct.

They planned to argue his Charter rights were breached “due to the actions of the Calgary police who targeted and hit Mr. Harron between the eyes.”