Court hears arguments against tossing 1st-degree murder verdict

Crown counsel made arguments Monday against having a first-degree murder verdict thrown out because of delays that caused the case to take too long to get to trial.

The hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver is considering what's known as a Jordan application filed by the defence team for Ibrahim Ali, who was found guilty in December of the first-degree murder of a 13-year-old girl and is facing life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

A Jordan application seeks a stay of proceedings for failing to meet the 30-month time limit to get to trial, as set by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 2016 case R. v. Jordan.

Crown lawyer Daniel Porte said counter to what Ali's defence told the court last week, the calculation for coming in under the Jordan threshold was met.

"The total delay in this case... is roughly 63 months," said Porte. "After deducting defence delays and deductions for a remarkable series of events, the remaining delay is roughly 25 months. This falls within the Jordan ceiling."

The Jordan calculation is determined by taking the length of time from when someone is charged to the end of arguments and evidence, and subtracting delays attributed to the accused.

There are also extra time provisions for exceptional circumstances which lie outside of the Crown's control.

Porte said many of the delays in the case were reasonable and due to a combination of factors, including the high number of applications brought by the defence and the "significant complexity of this prosecution."

The girl, whose name is protected by a publication ban, was killed in Burnaby's Central Park in July 2017. Ali was arrested and charged about one year later.

Last week, Ali's lawyer Kevin McCullough argued that issues not associated with the accused caused delays of close to 60 months, about double that of the Jordan ceiling.

The hearing is expected to run through to Wednesday.

Ali entered a plea of not guilty on April 5, 2023, after about three years of pretrial proceedings.

Once at trial, there were several adjournments that caused it to drag out for eight months, with reasons including issues of Ali's mental fitness; problems securing a regular interpreter; the death of an expert witness before she could complete her testimony; illness and COVID-19 among jurors; and threats of violence against Ali's lawyers.