Success: Impaired Care or Control, Possession of Cocaine and Possession of MDMA

R. v. C.P.F.

Offences: Impaired Care or Control, Possession of Cocaine and Possession of MDMA

My client was arrested in June 2017 for: Impaired Care or Control, Possession of Cocaine and Possession of MDMA. After numerous meetings between the officer in charge, the assigned Crown, and myself, all charges were withdrawn.

THE CASE:

In June of 2017 my client was found unconscious, seated in the driver’s seat of a vehicle parked in a Tim Horton’s parking lot with another passenger. EMS, as well as the attending emergency doctor, had to administer a drug known as “Narcan” to my client; on two separate occasions, to revive him. My client’s lips were blue and his pulse was very weak. There were drugs, including cocaine, MDMA and Fentanyl, located in the vehicle in a purse; which contained personal effects belonging to the passenger. Unopened alcohol was also found in the rear seat of the vehicle. The keys to the vehicle were located in the ignition.

CARE OR CONTROL

Our law specifies that if a person is in Care or Control of a motor vehicle, regardless of whether or not the vehicle is being driven, and is impaired by alcohol or drugs, or has over 80 mg of alcohol in 100 mls of blood, then they are guilty of: Impaired Care or Control of a motor vehicle.

REBUTTING CARE OR CONTROL

If you are charged with Impaired or Over 80 Care or Control while occupying the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle there is a presumption that you are in Care or Control of that motor vehicle. At this point, it is up to the individual to rebut that presumption. They need to establish one: that they did not have any intention to put the motor vehicle into motion and two: that the circumstances would not now, or in the future, present a danger.

MY CASE

My client had initially retained other counsel. They advised my client to plead guilty and get a fine of $2500 and three years driver’s license suspension.

I reviewed the case, hired an expert to give an informed opinion as to whether or not, given the circumstances, my client would have been in a position to create a danger with the motor vehicle. While in the process of doing this, I met with the assigned Crown and the officer in charge of the case. I convinced them that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. As such, the charges were withdrawn. Once again, it matters who you hire as your lawyer. In order to get the best results, Donna Pledge, is the lawyer to hire.

Call 416-630-8702 or click here to email

Donna V. Pledge, Barrister & Solicitor

Donna V Pledge, is a highly experienced criminal lawyer in Toronto with over twenty-five years of experience in the area of criminal offences. She has been successfully defending clients since 1992. She has earned the reputation of a tough and no-nonsense lawyer who can get her clients out of any criminal case with either a full acquittal or a very light sentence. Donna Pledge represents her clients in courts all over Ontario.