MOOSE JAW — It’s been over a year since Holden Elija Nowell’s charges were laid, and with very little progress made on resolving the issues, a judge has expressed his frustration with the “lengthy” delays.
Nowell and his lawyer appeared by phone recently in Moose Jaw Provincial Court, with Judge Daryl Rayner asking for an explanation about why very little had happened to resolve this situation since Nowell’s arrest on July 7, 2022, where police charged him with two counts of obstructing a peace officer and one count of assaulting a peace officer.
Crown prosecutor Rob Parker explained that his office had sent the defence lawyer the disclosure — information about the alleged offences — four times during the past year. However, the latter always claimed the videos in the files refused to play, even though the Crown had reviewed them before sending and had sent the files in different formats such as CDs and thumb drives.
Moreover, communications between both parties have been limited, with the Crown’s office hearing from the defence roughly four months after sending the first disclosure files, Parker added.
This situation has become “lengthy,” has been “kicking around” for 13 months and has “become pretty troublesome,” said Judge Rayner. He pointed out that provincial court is already starting to schedule preliminary hearings and trials into January since the autumn is nearly full.
The defence lawyer explained the delays from his perspective, noting he would probably bring forward pre-trial Charter motions because of the actions police allegedly took when arresting Nowell. The lawyer claimed that police allegedly pepper sprayed his client, with some spray supposedly hitting a child in the vehicle.
Meanwhile, the lawyer said he used different computers, operating systems and online audio-visual players to watch the videos but was unsuccessful every time.
When this file last appeared in July, the expectation was that the defence would enter pleas for Nowell because of the length and time it had been in court, Rayner said.
“I will not go against what I said. If you don’t enter a plea, the court will enter a plea (on your behalf),” Rayner stated, with the defence lawyer then entering non-guilty pleas and suggesting it would take two days for the preliminary hearing.
The judge agreed to set Nov. 22 to hear the pre-trial Charter motions, while he set Sept. 11 as the date when the court would schedule the actual trial — likely in early 2024.
“The court has a responsibility to ensure things move along (quickly based on past federal case law) … so the delay does not become unreasonably lengthy,” Judge Rayner added. “I’m happy to hear both counsels will work to resolve this matter so we use everybody’s time in the best possible fashion.”
