Appeal dismissed in impaired driving case involving THC, death of 9-year-old

The appeal against a woman behind the wheel when nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice died in 2021 is being dismissed.

The 21-page decision issued Friday by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal details a series of delays in the criminal prosecution of Taylor Kennedy, who was charged in 2022 with driving under the influence and impaired driving causing death.

This is the first time a person in Saskatchewan faced those charges over THC impairment.

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Those delays derailed Kennedy’s 2024 trial when a judge ruled her case wasn’t prosecuted within 18 months of her charges being laid.

Overall, it took nearly 30 months to the end of Kennedy’s trial.

The Crown appealed that decision, saying the judge erred in how she calculated the delays caused by a COVID backlog in the prosecutor’s office.

Now, the Court of Appeal says they agree the judge didn’t make an accurate calculation, but the difference still wasn’t enough to reinstate Kennedy’s prosecution.

Baeleigh Maurice was killed in September 2021 while crossing 33rd Street on a scooter at a marked crosswalk.

Watch above for more on what the court had to say.