Another person charged with murder in Quebec is set to be released due to unreasonable legal delays.
A judge stayed the second-degree murder proceedings against Van Son Nguyen Friday after he ruled delays in his trial violated a 2016 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada.
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The country’s highest court ruled legal proceedings cannot exceed 18 months in provincial courts and 30 months in Superior Court in order to respect a citizen’s right to be tried within a reasonable period of time.
Nguyen, 52, is a U.K. citizen and was still awaiting trial 55 months after being charged.
He was charged with allegedly stabbing a man 34 times with a machete in a home that housed an illegal marijuana grow-op.
Nguyen is not a Canadian citizen and can therefore be deported to Britain rather than be released in Canada.