'Little girl deserves justice': Gallery erupts in anger as charges stayed against driver who killed child

In a tense courtroom, a judge stayed the charge against a Saskatoon woman who hit and killed a nine-year-old girl.

Judge Jane Wootten ruled Taylor Kennedy was not tried within a reasonable time.

Kennedy was charged with impaired driving exceeding the prescribed blood-drug concentration of THC, causing the death of nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice. She was the first person in Saskatchewan charged with causing a death while driving under the influence of THC.

Maurice was going to school on Sept. 9, 2021, pushing her scooter at a crosswalk on 33rd Street West, when she was hit by Kennedy's truck.

At the crash scene — before an officer read her rights — Kennedy told police she vaped marijuana and micro-dosed magic mushrooms the day prior.

A still from surveillance video played in court depicting the arrest of Taylor Kennedy.

Supporters of the victim's family yelled at Wootten after she decided to stay the charges.

"You're forever going down as the white judge who upheld white supremacy," someone in the gallery yelled.

"Racist! F****** racist!" another person shouted.

Additional sheriffs were brought into the courtroom as the proceedings came to a close and the judge rushed out the door. Members of the gallery cried outside the courtroom.

Matters at Canadian provincial courts must reach a conclusion by 18 months. The judge ruled Kennedy's matter took about 24 months.

During her two-hour decision, Wooten detailed each court date and ruled whether the defence could be attributed for the adjournment.

"The total delay in the matter is 899 days," Wootten told the court.

She ruled that 158 of those days were blamed on the defence — resulting in a delay of 741 days, or six months beyond the 18-month criteria.

"We're obviously very happy with the judge's decision to stay the proceeding for unreasonable delay. We've been saying for some time now that the trial has taken too long," Thomas Hynes, Kennedy's lawyer, told journalists after the decision.

"This was a prosecution that was flawed from the get-go."

• Get Saskatoon's top stories delivered to your inbox every weekday morning

Hynes said even if the judge didn't stay charges because of the timing, he believes it would have happened over how police handled the investigation.

"The police investigation in this case violated Miss. Kennedy's rights in a number of significant ways, and would have excluded key evidence against her — so she would have been found not guilty at the end of the day," Hynes said.

The defence expects the prosecution to file a notice of appeal. The Crown declined to speak to journalists.

The prosecution argued the delay was attributed to the case's complexity and exceptional events — referencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wootten ruled there was only one accused, one charge, involving one day and one incident.

While the judge agreed there were Charter challenges, she ruled they were not complex challenges and are "common" with impairment trials.

"Even if I found this case was complex, I would have been unable to find that complexity was causative of delay ... delay is not attributable to complexity," Wootten said.

She agreed that a backlog of cases developed in the aftermath of the pandemic, but could not attribute a particular length of delay to COVID-19.

Taylor Kennedy attends court virtually

Kennedy watched the judge's decision from her lawyer's office, through Zoom. The video was projected on a screen in the courtroom.

The judge said the request for Kennedy to attend court virtually was made on Thursday.

Wootten said she trusts everyone in the courtroom will "treat each other respectfully and civilly, and respect the process."

Rhane Mahingen, Maurice's aunt, said the judge's decision was painful.

"It felt like the day we had lost her all over again," she said.

"This little girl deserves justice. That's not what we got. The court system is filled with nothing but systematic racism."

Mahingen said she's bracing for another difficult Christmas without her niece.

"Hold your little ones close to your heart because you don't know how long you have with them," Mahingen said.

"And when you hug them, please think of my family that's grieving this holiday season."