Prosecutors have been denied their request to appeal the sentences of men convicted of violent attacks last year.

The Court of Appeal for B.C./Yukon denied the request from the Crown to hear appeals of the sentences of Corey Pope and Kevin Frisch, who were both convicted of aggravated assault in separate cases in May 2012.

In a decision released Friday, the panel of three judges ruled "the Crown made no effort to have these appeals heard in a timely way.”

The judges added that both Pope and Frisch had completed their time behind bars six months before these appeal hearings.

Pope was convicted of assaulting a Destruction Bay doctor in February 2011, Frisch for attacking a cab driver in July 2010.

Both men were sentenced to three months in custody plus probation for their crimes.

The two appeals were ready to proceed in Whitehorse on Nov. 9, 2012. The cases were put on the standby list, meaning they would only move ahead if there was time.

The court heard another case that day.

The appeals were rescheduled to be heard in Vancouver on Feb. 8, 2013.

"Prior to the February 8, 2013 hearing, the Court advised the Crown that it wished to have an explanation for why it had taken as long as it did for the appeals to come on for hearing,” Justice David Frankel said in the written decision. 

"In response, the Crown filed an affidavit setting out what it had done to bring the matters on for hearing.”

When the Crown appeals a sentence with a short term of imprisonment, it has an obligation to obtain an early hearing date – if reasonably possible, before the jail term has been served, the judges said.

"To that end, the Court's practice is to make early dates available for such appeals.  It is clear that with respect to the present matters, the Crown failed to meet that obligation,” Frankel wrote. 

"Indeed, as Crown counsel candidly admitted, he does not have a good explanation for why nearly nine months passed between when the three-month sentences were imposed and the appeals came on for hearing. 

"In particular, he does not have an explanation for why arrangements were not made to have the appeals heard in Vancouver during the summer of 2012.”

Had the appeals been allowed to proceed, the Crown would have been seeking sentences of at least a year in both cases, the documents say.

"It should be noted that as these appeals were not heard on their merits, this Court did not consider the fitness of either sentence. 

"Accordingly, the refusal of leave should not be taken as an indication that we consider either sentence to be fit.”