A Crown prosecutor warned a B.C. Supreme Court judge May 8 that a 2021 fatal car accident case is getting close to the ceiling where it could be thrown out of court.
Two Surrey men were killed in a crash on Cypress Bowl Road early Sept. 2, 2021. One was celebrating his birthday.
According to West Vancouver police, a group of people in three separate vehicles were out celebrating around 4 a.m. when the driver of a Jeep crashed while coming into the hairpin turn just above the West Vancouver works yard.
The Crown initially swore two counts of criminal negligence causing death against Dilpreet Singh Sandhu.
As of Sandhu’s appearance before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray May 8, the charges are now impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08, dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Prosecutor Jason Krupa told Justice Murray the Crown is ready to proceed to trial but said the defence is seeking more time to get instruction from Sandhu.
The pressure on the case is from the so-called Jordan ceilings established for cases in the Supreme Court of Canada. The Jordan principles stem from a case that wound up in Canada’s high court.
Under Jordan, stays of proceedings are possible if a case hits a ceiling of 18 months for those tried in the provincial court and 30 months for cases in superior courts.
“There’s Jordan time pressure," Krupa told Murray. "Crown's ready to go."
The case returns to court on May 22 to set a next date.
With files from Brent Richter
