This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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A unanimous 5-0 Supreme Court ruling announced on Friday has determined that police is not allowed to interrogate a suspect or even take a breath analysis test from a drunk driver unless the suspect is given a fair chance to speak to a lawyer.
According to the court ruling, the mistakes of Alberta police in a 2008 case were so crucial that it almost threw out the conviction of a man who drove drunk, crashed his truck, and seriously injured three of his passengers. It was found that police failed to allow Jamie Taylor to have the right to speak to counsel either at the crash site in 2008 or before arriving at the hospital to take blood test.
Even though the blood analysis revealed that Taylor had a blood-alcohol concentration over the legal limit, The Alberta Court of Appeal threw out the conviction and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict. It was found that police violated Taylor’s section 10 charter rights, i.e. giving him the right “to retain and instruct counsel without delay.” The Supreme Court ruling, revealed that hospital “is not a charter-free zone.” Writing on behalf of all judges, Justice Rosalie Abella said that “this is a case not so much about delay in facilitating access (to legal counsel), but about its complete denial,” adding that “Mr. Taylor’s rights were violated by the failure on the part of the police to take any steps to facilitate (his) requested access to counsel.”
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