The Queen v. T.(M.) 2022

 The client was charged with uttering forged documents and attempted fraud after a number of luxury car dealerships in Kelowna complained to police about the client’s recent attempts to obtain financing in which they believed he had relied on falsified financial statements.  The problem was that at the time of the charge the police could not locate the client to serve him with his paperwork that would compel him to come to court and answer to the charges.  They put in almost no effort to find him and it was not until over a year later, when the client got pulled over for speeding, did he find out about the warrant.  The client retained Mr. van der Walle who did all he could to move the case along as fast as possible.  However the court was unable to accommodate the trial for almost a year.  In response Mr. van der Walle filed a Notice of Constitutional Motion arguing that his client’s right to a trial within a reasonable time had been violated because of the lack of effort by police to execute the arrest warrant and get the client into court.  Thankfully the Crown agreed and dropped both charges a few weeks before the constitutional motion was slated to begin. Not guilty, no trial necessary.