The Appellant was accused of a number of offences involving the alleged abuse of his wife. Once the evidence was concluded in his trial, and the trial judge was to commence his deliberations, the defence brought an 11(b) application for unreasonable delay. Prior to releasing his ruling, and while still contemplating the outcome of the trial proper, the trial judge heard the 11(b) application. The trial judge agreed with the defence and granted the application. The appellant’s charges were stayed. In the written decision granting the 11(b) stay, the trial judge advised that he had completed his decision on the trial proper and placed it under seal pending the outcome of any appeal of the stay order.

The Crown appealed the 11(b) stay of proceedings to The Ontario Court of Appeal. The Crown argued that, following the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in R. v. KGK, the trial judge was not entitled to rely on any alleged delay between the end of the trial evidence and the release of the stay application decision. The Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously agreed with the Crown, and ordered the matter return to the trial judge in order to release his decision on the trial proper.