Assault charges stayed against Taj Smith, final involved Rider, years later

After almost three years, the final former Saskatchewan Roughriders' player with assault charges pending against him from an Aug. 18, 2013 incident outside a Regina nightclub has seen those charges stayed. That would be former Roughriders' receiver Taj Smith, who was released by the club in December. Charges were withdrawn against Dwight Anderson and stayed against Eron Riley in June 2014, but at that time, a judge ordered Smith to stand trial. Smith appeared in court in December, but saw his trial set over while Justice Catherine Dawson decided on voir dire issues as to which evidence would be allowed in. Now, the Crown has stayed the charges against Smith, announcing that decision Thursday morning:

Smith tweeted Thursday that he's grateful for the decision:

It's important to note that staying charges isn't the same as withdrawing them (as mentioned above, the Crown still has the option to bring them back, even if that option is rarely exercised), and that this decision doesn't say Smith didn't do what he was accused of; it says that the Crown doesn't believe they have a reasonable likelihood of convicting him on those charges. The CFL and the Riders should be careful not to follow the NHL's mistake and start throwing around words like "unfounded" in the wake of this decision.

However, this does presumably wrap up the legal drama around that 2013 incident (unless those charges are brought back), and that could make Smith a more appealing signing if a CFL team is interested in him. He's 32, has battled significant injuries, isn't all that big (he's listed as 6'1'', 198 pounds), and only played in three games last year, so he isn't a definite signing by any stretch of the imagination. He did have a 1,007-yard season with seven touchdowns back in 2013, though, so he's certainly a player who has shown potential in the right situation, and now that the charges against him have been stayed, he might be an intruiging training-camp invite at the least. As noted above, this doesn't completely clear his reputation, and signing him still could come with a bit of an image hit, but it would be less of one than signing a player still on trial.

It is curious that it took this long to stay charges against Smith, especially as the other two players involved had their situations resolved back in June 2014, but the Crown presumably believed there was a better chance of securing a conviction against him until recently. It's notable that keeping the charges against him pending for this long did already have an impact; Smith was suspended by the Riders in August 2014 after visiting a strip club near Ottawa, violating the terms of his release (which led to him being in court in Gatineau over that) and missing a full day of team meetings with no contact or explanation. Now that these charges have been stayed, Smith has less to worry about on the legal front, and that might help him gain further CFL employment.This also means that, almost three years later, the 2013 incident should finally be resolved for the CFL and the Riders.