Criminal & Regulatory Defence

Criminal & Regulatory Defence

Most people are law-abiding. They live a life where the idea of the criminal law intruding never crosses their minds.  Until it does.  Then everything can come crashing down.  These inflection points sometimes occur at the height of success, when tragedy strikes in a moment of inattention or carelessness, after a deal is struck or a wedding or birth is celebrated. Occasionally, the cause is mistaken identity or a false, even malicious, allegation. Or when a person, unaware or dismissive of the law, exhausts their ninth life.

More frequently, the arrival of the police marks the final shoe to drop in a series of reversals or setbacks: a failing marriage or business, the loss of a job or loved one, the receipt of an unfortunate diagnosis.  Such challenges, alone or in combination, enhance one’s exposure to the criminal law.  Human beings err most often at the point of their greatest vulnerability.

Even when a person successfully navigates the minefield that is life, the phone can still ring, announcing the ensnaring of their child or other loved one.

Whatever brought you to this place, Hummingbird is here to help.

Services Provided

Areas Of Criminal Practice

Hummingbird assists with all offences under the Criminal Code of Canada, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. A particular area of focus is “Impaired Driving and Blood Alcohol Offences”

Other Penal Statutes
Prosecutions can arise under other federal and provincial legislation. Hummingbird acts for individuals and corporations charged with such offences.

How Can Hummingbird Help?

Tough Cases Like Good Lawyers

Oddly, the good news is that the criminal law is extremely complex.  This is especially true of drinking and driving cases. This gives an advantage to skilled lawyers.  It increases the chances of success at trial and strengthens a clients’ negotiating position in plea bargaining.  Persuading the prosecution to accept a favourable compromise early helps everybody.  If trial remains the only option other than pleading guilty, the ability to win difficult cases is critical.  Negotiation also never really ends.  Lawyers can negotiate with the prosecution right up until the verdict is in.  A mid-trial development can force the prosecution’s hand if the lawyer recognizes the opportunity.  Not all do.

See “Litigating Impaired Driving Cases” and “Helping Your Lawyer Negotiate” for more detail

While developing a formidable trial strategy is the best negotiating tool, it works well in tandem with a softer approach.  Even though criminal statutes set clear limitations on plea bargaining, and the Crown Policy Manual limits the discretion of individual prosecutors, it remains a human process.  Persuading the prosecution to exercise its discretion in your favour directly benefits from actions you can take under the guidance of your lawyer.  Humanizing a defendant in a criminal proceeding invites compassion and understanding even where evidence of guilt is significant.  Not only can it help in pre-trial negotiations; it also assists at sentencing if ever it comes to that.

See “Reference Letters, Awards, and Accomplishments” and “Dealing with Underlying Issues” for more detail.

Nobody is as good as their highest action or as bad as their lowest.  The prosecution and court start off with your lowest.  While you are presumed innocent, everybody knows that you are charged with a crime.  It’s good to add weight to the other side of the scale.  Letters of reference, a history of kind acts and volunteerism, significant achievements, productive talents in the arts or STEM fields, the support of a loving family, etc. all fill out a more comprehensive and balanced profile of the person before the court.  A good lawyer marshals this information to build a compelling brief of your personal value to aide in negotiation.

IMPORTANT:  Before approaching anyone for a reference letter, first discuss it with your lawyer.  As everybody is a potential witness, even if they are not involved in the offence at all, it is important for your lawyer to ensure information remains confidential.  It is best not to disclose any information to 3rd parties without your lawyer’s prior approval.  Even things that appear insignificant or unrelated can make or break a case.  Also, the quality of reference letters matters much more than quantity.  Five unique and honest letters from people who know you well is better than 100 saying the same thing.

A drug or drinking related arrest can signal an underlying coping issue that might benefit from assistance.  Seeking such assistance can also help in negotiating a favourable outcome of your case.  Significant functions of the criminal justice system are rehabilitation and the protection of society.  Proactively taking steps to deal with stress, depression, or substance dependency promotes those societal benefits.  They also make you feel better.  They may also help persuade the prosecution or court that some leniency is justified in your case.  Taking such steps under the guidance of a lawyer is not an admission of guilt. 

Good lawyers take care to ensure that discussions about such issues with Crown prosecutors or the courts in the pre-trial process are “off the record”.  If the case proceeds to trial, the trial judge will not be aware of those discussions.  If your lawyer recommends that you testify at trial, rules of evidence limit questions by the prosecution about your character, unless you open the door by falsely painting yourself as a teetotaler, for example.

Criminal prosecutions can also be defeated despite overwhelming evidence of guilt.  Usually this involves seeking Constitutional remedies for significant violations of Charter rights.  Cases can be stayed (ended without a verdict) due to unreasonable delay by the prosecution and court, inadequate disclosure, lost evidence, or due to abusive treatment of detainees. 

Where a skilled trial lawyer identifies potential or glaring weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, it not only assists in building a credible trial strategy; it also strengthens the defence’s hand in negotiation.  This can produce favourable outcomes that may not otherwise arise, without all the stress and cost of a full trial.

David Gomes, Hummingbird’s lead in Criminal Law, has litigated hundreds of impaired driving and related cases, along with many other criminal and non-criminal cases.

This section deals with criminal offences involving motor vehicles and the consumption of alcohol or drugs.

Most people charged with impaired driving or related offences have never been before the criminal courts.  Most likely, they never will be again.  Often, they thought they were drinking responsibly, counting glasses and hours elapsed, driving carefully home from a business meeting or work event.  Many cases arise from random spot checks or traffic stops, where there is no apparent impairment but a smell or an admission of consumption to police leads to a breath demand and then arrest.  Only some cases meet the dramatic expectations of common belief.

Primary Offences
The penalties upon conviction are mandatory and severe.

Related Offences

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A free 15-minute consultation is available for qualifying matters. Contact us to find out if your matter qualifies. 

Penalties And Other Consequences

Federal Penalties
For first-time offenders, Federal law imposes a driving prohibition of at least one year, a criminal record, and a fine.  If impairment or BAC is high, or driving is bad, penalties increase in severity, potentially even jail on a first offence instead of a fine.  When injury or death is caused, lengthy periods of imprisonment are typical, along with extended driving bans.  A lifetime ban is imposed in cases of death.  For repeat offenders, jail is mandatory even if impairment or BAC is at the low end of the prohibited range:  30 days minimum for 2nd offences; 120 days minimum for 3rd and subsequent offences, with minimum driving bans of 2 and 3 years, respectively.  Federal bans prohibit operating any motor vehicle, not just on public roads, but anywhere members of the public may be.  This could include job sites, warehouses, shipyards, or golf courses.
Provincial Regulations  
Provincial law imposes additional mandatory, often lengthy, driver’s license suspensions and onerous requirements after suspensions expire.  Remedial courses and Ignition Interlock devices are mandatory for at least one year; six years for 3rd or subsequent offences after serving at least 10 years of an indefinite suspension.  There are also administrative measures that take effect immediately, including a 90-day driver’s licence suspension and a 7-day impound of the vehicle, even if owned by someone else. 
Why Minimum Penalties Exist for Impaired Driving
Very few criminal offences in Canada carry minimum penalties or automatic criminal records.  The rules governing impaired driving and similar offences are harsh because the risk to the public is widespread.  
Additional Damage Caused by Conviction

A criminal record or the loss of a driver’s licence can be disastrous, resulting in loss of employment, affecting travel or the ability to care for dependents, complicating immigration or entry into certain trades or professions.  Each potentially triggers a host of second-order effects that can go well beyond the actual penalties.  The events of arrest and detention are stressful, even traumatic, for the novice detainee, but the cascade of events following release can be much worse. 

Litigating Impaired Driving Cases

Why Impaired and BAC Cases Are Complex

These offences stand at the intersection of multiple disciplines, each a world unto itself.  The lawfulness of a traffic stop invites consideration of a library of jurisprudence.  So does an arrest, even without the use of roadside “approved screening devices”.  When used, biology and the proper use of such technology are injected into the analysis.  Upon arrest, duties placed on police to properly inform detainees of their rights and assist in their exercise are scrutinized.  The most incriminating evidence in drinking and driving cases is usually seized from the detainee’s body:  breath or blood samples, or words.  The law on admissibility of such evidence is extensive.  Also, the roadside device cannot be used to prove BAC at trial.  The police need to promptly seize additional samples at the station for analysis by an “approved instrument”.  This time pressure induces mistakes.  It creates tension between the exercise of a detainee’s rights and the timely collection of that evidence, potentially violating Charter rights.  It can also deprive the prosecution of statutory “shortcuts” to prove its case.  That can require the Crown to call an expert toxicologist at trial.  The defence can then test the scientific and statistical assumptions underlying the opinions given or call its own expert.  

The above are examples of a typical case.  Other opportunities arise when it’s not a random spot check case.  A person may be found sleeping in a car, requiring consideration of the vast jurisprudence of “care or control”.  Or police might stop a vehicle fitting a description given by a civilian, which implicates another line of jurisprudence.  It also creates issues of proof that the right vehicle or driver was stopped.  Effective cross-examination of civilian witnesses often undercuts the prosecution’s case.  Other times, the arrest is at a hospital, where a detainee has been taken after a collision, and police arrive after the fact.  Yet the condition of people under treatment after an accident arguably does not reflect their condition at the time of driving, so observations made by police at the hospital are often unreliable bases for arrest or conviction.  The same goes for assistance given to police by medical personnel, themselves governed by rules of patient privacy that typically require a search warrant or explicit informed consent by the patient.  Without either, medical personnel assisting police could poison the Crown’s case.

It can go on and on like that.  Plugging one hole can spring another leak.  While governments occasionally attempt to legislate some of these difficulties away, those efforts can themselves invite new problems.  Parliament and the Provinces remain bound by the Constitution and can only go so far.

Meet Our Criminal & Regulatory Defence Team

Criminal Law, Family Law,
Civil Litigation

Family And Litigation Clerk

Awards & Recognition

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