Another alleged cocaine dealer in Cranbrook, B.C., has had all charges against him dropped because there weren't enough judges to hear his case.
The case against Darren Bryan Williams was thrown out Thursday morning after a three-year delay, when his defence lawyer argued for a stay of proceedings under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Williams was arrested on November 21, 2007, on suspicion of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
He has made several court appearances since then, but did not appear for his scheduled court date on October 26, 2009. He turned himself in the next day, but a new trial could not be scheduled until May 31 of this year.
Cpl. Chris Faulkner, who investigated the case against Williams, told ctvbc.ca that the trial delays are caused by "systemic" problems in the courts -- most notably, a lack of judges to hear trials.
"It is disappointing to the community," he said.
The news marks the second time in two weeks that a case against an alleged drug dealer in Cranbrook has been thrown out of court because of delays.
Aaron Jeffrey Hamm, 20, was arrested in August 2008 and charged with possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. Numerous trial delays and rescheduled appearances followed -- Hamm appeared or was set to appear in court 10 times in 2009 alone.
Last month, Hamm's defence argued successfully that the delays had violated his charter rights, which guarantees a trial within a reasonable time.
A provincial court judge agreed to stay the charge last month, noting that the number of full-time judges available in the Kootenay region has gone from five to 2.8.
Faulkner said that three drunk-driving cases also have recently been thrown out of court in nearly Golden, B.C., after waiting to go to trial for more than two years.
He said that, in all cases, a lack of judges is to blame.
"Thankfully, a local judge has been appointed recently -- just last week," Faulkner said.
"But in the short term, I think that we will certainly see some more of these older cases thrown out
