Client Accused of Driving While Impaired by Drugs Vindicated at Trial

The client had always maintained that she was not impaired by drugs when she was arrested at the scene of an accident. The Drug Recognition Expert – a police officer specially trained to examine people arrested for impaired driving and to recognize signs of impairment by certain drugs – had given the opinion that the client was impaired by two different categories of drugs. Tyler MacDonald challenged the accuracy and reliability of this opinion, in part by pointing out how the client’s toxicological testing results (as explained by a toxicologist from the Centre of Forensic Sciences) were actually inconsistent with – rather than supportive of – the Drug Recognition Expert’s opinion. Shortly after Mr. MacDonald made his closing submissions to the trial judge, the prosecutor conceded that the Crown could not prove its case, and the client was found not guilty.