A Calgary judge says that three men convicted in the death of Lukas Strasser-Hird in 2013 will be sentenced for their crimes, dismissing the defence’s claim that the court delayed the proceedings too far.
Strasser-Hird, 18, was killed outside the Vinyl Nightclub in 2013 after he got into a fight with a number of other patrons.
The young man was beaten to death in the back alley.
After a six-week trial, a jury found Assmar Shlah and Franz Cabrera guilty of second degree murder. Joch Pouk was convicted of manslaughter.
Lawyers for the three men claimed that the case exceeded the limits set by the Supreme Court of Canada earlier this year.
“I find no matter which way you cut it, the delay has been too long here, unacceptable delay, and these young men should be set free,” said Balfour Der, defence lawyer for Assman Shlah, in late November.
Crown lawyers said the case was a complex one, with over 100 witnesses and five accused, and needed the extra time to process.
Justice Glen Poelman denied the defence's application on Thursday morning.
In his decision, Poelman said that while the delay exceeded the limit set out in the precedent by less than a month, the Crown established a transitional exception circumstance in the case.
Ken McCaffery, Crown lawyer, said he is happy with the result.
"Obviously, we are very pleased with the result. Now we can get on with the business of deciding the fate of these three men who committed this crime. Finally, we can get down to the business of victim impact statements and talking about what actually happened that night rather than having the case bogged down in legal procedures."
McCaffery says the victim impact statements will be heard during the sentencing hearing expected in January.
Two of those, from the victim's mother and grandmother, will be heard via video from Bolivia, he said.
"The mother of the victim refuses to come to Canada because of what happened to her son," McCaffery said.
Balfour Der, Shlah's lawyer, says he is disappointed with the decision by Justice Poelman.
"I am disappointed because I thought that this was a pretty sound legal argument to make about the delay, so I’m disappointed, my client’s disappointed and now his family is disappointed."
Der says he has already submitted for an appeal for his client, saying that the verdict delivered was unreasonable.
"There may be other grounds of appeal, but we will definitely be appealing this judge’s decision about the delay."
He said that the issue of delays in court cases is rampant in Alberta and it isn't going away.
"In Alberta, many, many cases go beyond the 30 months. There has been some long, long delays in Alberta getting cases on so this decision from the Supreme Court has created a lot of litigation, especially in Alberta because we have so many cases that are delayed."
If the application was upheld, then Der said it would show that there are rules in the Canadian justice system that need to be honoured.
"We are a society who has legal rules and we have to follow them. We don’t get to have shortcuts. We don’t get to cut out somebody’s rights because it’s a murder charge as opposed to a speeding ticket. These rules apply to everybody. It’s what separates our society, Canadian society, from other parts of the world and their justice systems where people like Nelson Mandela will sit in a jail cell for 20 years because they don’t have any rights."
The Crown is seeking a seven to eight year sentence for Pouk, a 14-year sentence for Shlah and a 17-year sentence for Cabrera, but those terms are subject to change as they research the case heading into the sentencing hearing.
The defence did not share any details about sentence submissions.
An arrest warrant is still active for another man in this case, 21-year-old Nathan Gervais, who was charged with first degree murder but fled house arrest while awaiting trial.
