Charges Withdrawn -- Impaired Driving and "Over 80"

The client was accused of driving a motor vehicle while his ability to do so was impaired by alcohol after police responded to a call regarding a motor vehicle accident. The attending police officers claimed that the client showed signs of impairment by alcohol, including an inability to stand up or walk straight, and because of this they skipped the step of checking his blood alcohol concentration with a screening device at the roadside and brought him directly to the police station. He was subsequently also charged with having a blood alcohol concentation of over .08 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Mr. MacDonald began the client's defence well ahead of the actual trial. He made various requests for disclosure of specific items, including the booking video of the client at the police station, the radio communications of the police officers involved, and other documents that were not initially disclosed by the prosecution. This was all deliberately done because Mr. MacDonald doubted the veracity of the officers' claims as to what they saw and why they took specific investiigative actions, and Mr. MacDonald had a strong expectation that the requested disclosure would reveal these problems.

The police eventually provided the requested evidence to both sides. The serious issues with the Crown's case then became apparent to Mr. MacDonald, as well as the prosecutor. Subsequently, as a result of confidential discussions between Mr. MacDonald and the prosecutor, both charges were dropped.