Impaired driving trial. Accused testified to bolus consumption just prior to driving, and called expert evidence regarding probable blood alcohol concentration.
Held: Acquitted.
Accused’s blood-alcohol concentration at the time of driving would have straddled the legal limit if the expert was relying upon standard elimination rates of 10-20 mg% per hour. Straddle cases rarely are capable of raising a reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of the breath readings: Gibson [2008] 1 SCR 397. However, two thirds of the population eliminates alcohol between 13-18 mg% per hour, and this range brought the accused entirely below the legal limit at the time of driving. Court satisfied that absent the bolus consumption of alcohol just prior to driving, accused’s blood-alcohol concentration would probably not have exceeded 80 mg%.
A. Hepner, Defence Counsel