Speed up prosecution of Quebec City mosque shooter, judge warns Crown

Crown lawyers prosecuting the suspect in the Quebec City mosque attack have been remindedto hurry upif they want to avoid having their case tossed out for excessive delays.

Quebec Court JudgeJean-Louis Lemay expressed his concernabout prosecutors seeking a three-month delay Monday to give themmore time to gather evidence to bring Alexandre Bissonnetteto trial.

Bissonnette, 27,was arrested on the night of the Jan. 29 shooting. He is charged with sixcounts of first-degree murder and five of attempted murder using a restricted firearm.

Lemay reminded the Crown that according to case law, it has to be "proactive" in ensuring a speedy trial.

In a controversial decision last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that suspects accused ofserious crimessuch as murdermust be tried within 30 months.

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Both sides in the case were in court today to scheduleBissonnette's next court appearance. They agreed on Sept.8.

Lemaypointed out that by Sept. 8,"seven months will have passed without a request for a bail hearing" on the five attempted murder charges.

That said, Bissonnette'sdefence lawyer, Charles-Olivier Gosselin,retorted thatit was "illusorythinkingto think we will be asking for a bail hearing [on the attempted murder charges]given the first six charges [of first-degreemurder]."

3 Quebec murder suspects have walked, so far

During today's brief court appearance, Bissonnette'slawyer was given a USB key containing new evidenceabout theshooting.

But other evidence,such as ballistics reports, lab results and information theRCMPis trying to extract fromBissonnette'scomputer, is still not ready to be filed in court.

"It's a lengthy investigation given the gravityof what happened," said prosecutor Thomas Jacques.

Jacques said the Jordan ruling is a "daily preoccupation," especially since the Crown would be considered responsible for the delay in disclosure.

In Quebec, so far, three murder suspects have had charges stayed under the so-called Jordan ruling.