Our client was charged with driving over the legal limit. She was at a fast food drive though when the restaurant employee called the police to report that they believed they were dealing with an impaired driver. The police arrived a short while later and spoke to our client. They smelled alcohol on her breath and demanded that she provide a breath sample into an approved screening device (a roadside breathalyzer). A few minutes later, she provided a breath sample into the screening device and the result was a fail. She was subsequently arrested and taken to the police station where she provided two samples of her breath, the results of which were over 80. At trial, the Crown attempted to prove that our client was over the legal limit by relying on a document called a Certificate of a Qualified Breath Technician (this is a document in which the breath technician records the test results as well as other information that relate to the breath testing process. Having identified a mistake that the breath technician had made while filling out the Certificate of a Qualified Breath Technician, at trial, we successfully argued that one of the technical requirements had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The charge against our client was dismissed.
