DUI LAWYERS EDMONTON

There is an appeal process that we encourage all of our clients to access. You must start an appeal within 30 days of being charged. The form you need to purchase from a Registries office is the Alberta Administrative License Suspension In Person Appeal Form (Reg 0410). It will cost about $250.00 plus a “small” handling fee (around $30.00). Once you have the form, you will need to sign it and send it to our office along with the Notice of Suspension/Disqualification and the Certificate of Qualified Technician (if you received one). Our office then uses those documents to start the appeal in front of the Transportation Safety Board on your behalf. The sooner you can send your documents to us, the better.

If you were charged before April 2018, you were given an indefinite license suspension and if you were charged after that date, a 15-month suspension. There are, occasionally, but definitely not always, arguments which can be made to allow you to get credit upon conviction for the time you have spent without a license. Because credit is not certain, it is very important that you at least start the AALS appeal process within the 30 day time limit. This is also one of the reasons why it is important to get disclosure quickly so that you can get advice from your lawyer as to whether or not you have defences to the charges.

Call your lawyer immediately. If you don’t have a lawyer, call the court house and the Crown Prosecutor’s office. Be aware that, depending on the nature of the court appearance, the matter may still go ahead if there is a suggestion that your reason is not valid.

If you are a youth you must appear at all court appearances unless you have filed a designation of counsel. Even then, you should know that some courts will insist on you being personally present for the first court appearance. It will not be enough to send someone else, a non-lawyer, in your place. If you are an adult and you know that the Crown is proceeding by summary conviction, as opposed to by indictment, you may be able to send someone in your place, depending on the kind of court appearance it is. Check with a lawyer before assuming that you do or do not have to be personally present. If the Crown is proceeding by indictment, you may file a designation of counsel which will allow a lawyer to be present on your behalf for most preliminary court appearances. (See question about summary versus indictable offences).

From the time you put in a plea it will probably take, at the very minimum, two and a half months before the matter will come up again for trial. Normally, though, it will take longer. Generally, you can expect that it will take between four and seven months to get the matter to trial. It may take longer depending on a number of factors.

The penalties will vary depending on when you were charged. If you were charged before December 18, 2018, s. 11(i) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies in your case. That section of the Charter guarantees that if the sentencing regime changes after you were charged with an offence, you should be able to get the benefit of the least onerous sentencing regime. If you were charged after December 18, 2018 and you provided samples of breath, the minimum fine for readings between 80 and 119 mg% will remain $1000.00. For readings between 120 and 159 mg% the minimum fine will be $1500.00. A blood alcohol level of 160 mg% or more, or any kind of refusal, will result in a minimum $2000.00 fine. There will also be a minimum one year driving prohibition upon conviction, but, post-December 18, 2018, the Court may or may not impose a mandatory waiting period before allowing access to the Ignition Interlock program.

There are too many changes to outline all of them here. It is important that you speak to a lawyer to understand the full impact these changes may have on you or someone you care about. Here, however, are some of the highlights:

The section numbers of the offences in the Criminal Code all changed (see below).

The nature of the offences has changed:

• Impaired driving (s. 253(1)(a)) became operating a conveyance while the ability to do so is impaired by alcohol (s. 320.14(1)(a)).
• Driving with a blood alcohol level over 80 mg% (s. 253(1)(b)) became operating a conveyance within two hours of having a blood alcohol level at or exceeding the limit of 80 mg% (s. 320.14(1)(b)).

The penalties have changed. These may or may not apply to you. Make sure to speak to a lawyer before making any use of the following information.

• With respect to fines, there used to be a mandatory minimum $1000.00 fine for impaired driving-related offences. After December 18, 2018, the minimum fines depend on the results of the breath tests. Refusals or failures to comply with demands for breath, bodily substances or sobriety tests, will result in a minimum $2000.00 fine (s. 320.19).
• With respect to the driving disqualification period, the mandatory minimum remains a one year driving prohibition. However, before December 18, 2018, a person convicted would have to wait three months before being able to access Ignition Interlock which would allow the person to drive for the remaining nine months. After December 18, 2018, a Court may allow a convicted person access to Ignition Interlock without any mandatory wait period, allowing the person to drive for the 12 month prohibition (S. 320.24).

An officer who has a screening device in his or her possession may stop a vehicle for a sobriety or document check and require the driver to blow into the device without having grounds even to suspect that there has been consumption of alcohol.