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DUI First Offence - Does good character matter?



- If you’re charged with a DUI but have never been in trouble with the law, does that matter in your DUI case?

- Many people charged with a DUI have never been in trouble with the law.  

- Most have clean criminal records and clean driving abstracts.

- Most are not alcoholics.

- In other words, these are people with a good character.

- We see many situations where someone had a few drinks and genuinely thought they were okay to drive, but legally they were not.  

- Their blood alcohol reading was over 80, and they were charged with Over 80 or Impaired Driving.

- How will their good character play into the prosecution of their DUI case?

- And the answer is, it depends on the facts.

- When the Crown, who is the lawyer representing the Canadian government, reviews your case, they consider two tests.

- First, is there enough evidence to secure a conviction?

- And second, is it in the interest of justice to move ahead with your DUI case?

- If the answer is no to either question, the Crown cannot pursue your DUI charge.

- Assuming there is enough evidence to secure a conviction, then would your “good character” mean that it would not be in the interest of justice to pursue the charge against you?  

- In other words, would the Crown look at your case and withdraw the charge because of your good character and clean record?

- And the answer is, no.

- Impaired Driving, Over 80 and Refusal to take a breathalyzer test are serious charges.

- The Crown will not withdraw these charges even if you have a perfect, clean background.

- But that does not mean that your good character won’t help you.

- It will be one data point that the Crown will consider as they prosecute your Impaired Driving, Over 80 or Refusal to Take a Breathalyzer case.

- The Crown will look at all the facts of your case in totality, including your good character.

- The Crown will consider a number of factors, including:



- your blood alcohol readings;

- whether there was an accident or not;

- your interactions with the police officers that arrested you; and

- whether you were alone in your vehicle or whether you had passengers, including kids.



- If the facts of your DUI are not aggravating, then your good character would play some factor for the Crown to consider as they prosecute your DUI case.

- And those facts, as considered in totality, may result in a better outcome than it would have been if you had a background that was not clean.



https://youtu.be/yubyG1HagXc https://www.nextlaw.ca/2022/10/18/dui-first-offence-does-good-character-matter/

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