Nova Scotia's Public Prosecution Service will ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal in the Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh case.
MacIntosh was convicted on charges of indecent assault and gross indecency, but the charges were stayed by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in December.
In a release, director Martin Herschorn says the Court Appeal decision has been carefully studied, and prosecutors believe there are legal grounds involving issues of "public importance" which warrant consideration by the Supreme Court of Canada.
MacIntosh was convicted on 17 charges involving four boys in two separate trials, and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.
He appealed the verdict and in December, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found that his right to be tried within a reasonable period of time was infringed because of the length of time it took to get the case to trial. The court also found that the trial judge had erred in law and misapprehended evidence material to the convictions, meaning he came to conclusions about the evidence that were wrong.
The application will be filed with the Supreme Court of Canada by Feb. 6.