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Our client was recently found not guilty of failing to provide a roadside breath sample and impaired driving in Ottawa. The police pulled our client over for speeding. The officer demanded that our client provide a breath sample into a roadside approved screening device. The officer alleged that our client provided about ten insufficient samples, […]
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Our client was recently found not guilty of criminal charges for assault causing bodily harm, after a trial in Ottawa. There was an argument outside a bar. A man was punched in the face by a stranger. He was knocked out and his nose was broken. The victim later identified our client on Facebook and […]
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When can the sale of gardening supplies lead to a conviction for helping to produce marijuana in Ontario? In other words, when can the sale of legal goods to those who would use those goods for illegal ends be a criminal offence? The Ontario Court of Appeal provides some guidance in R. v. Nguyen 2016 ONCA […]
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In R. v. Stoney, 2015 ONCJ 740, an Ontario man was acquitted of drinking and driving because of his treatment by the police in custody. He was arrested around 3:30 pm, but not released from police custody for another 12 hours. The judge entered a stay of proceedings because the man’s Charter rights were violated, […]
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In R. v. Quick, 2016 ONCA 95, the Court of Appeal overturned a guilty plea because the accused was not aware that an indefinite driver’s license suspension would be imposed under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. Quick’s counsel had not told him that because he had two previous drinking and driving convictions, his driver’s licence would […]
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In R. v. Cheema, 2016 ONCJ 61 the accused was held in a cell for four hours and 20 minutes after the failing the Brethalyzer tests. At trial, the judge ruled this violated the accused’s Charter right against arbitrary detention and arrest. The violation was not serious enough to exclude the breath readings as evidence. […]
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The prosecution sometimes needs to use a forensic toxicologist to calculate a driver’s blood alcohol content at the time of driving, by using the Intoxilyzer breath-readings at the police station. The toxicologist usually needs the driver’s weight to make this calculation. When a driver calls a lawyer at the police station, the lawyer should generally […]
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The Criminal Code of Canada says that Breathalyzer readings are deemed to be accurate if the first test is taken within two hours of the time of driving. An accused person can undermine this presumption if the machine made an error or was operated improperly by the police. In the recent Ontario drinking and driving […]
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The Criminal Code of Canada says breath-readings are deemed to be accurate if the first test is taken within two hours of the time of driving. An accused person can undermine this presumption by showing the machine was operated improperly. In the recent Ontario drinking and driving case of R. v. Paspaporn, 2015 ONCJ 734, […]
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In a surprising number of cases people are arrested when the police smell hidden marijuana in a car. One Ontario criminal judge recently decided that he did not believe this old story. In R. v. Newell, 2015 ONCJ 564, a police officer testified he could smell marijuana coming from the accused’s coat pocket from outside […]
