The Defence Group criminal defense lawyers Toronto specializes in assault law defence, DUI defense and youth crime law practices, drug defence, complex homicide cases, regulatory offence cases, partner assaults, theft and robbery defence and more.

1. DUI and Over 80 Defence Lawyer
Drinking and driving offences are among the most common
charges laid by police; according to Statistics Canada, they
make up more than 10% of all criminal charges, and over
50,000 trials across Canada each year. There are several
reasons for this. One is the "zero tolerance" policies that
governments and police departments have put in place in
recent years. Another is that drinking and driving is an activity
that cuts across all lines in society: socio-economic, cultural,
and age.
The penalties for drinking and driving offences are severe. Even on a first offence, you will be convicted and
burdened with a criminal record. Your driver's licence will be automatically suspended for a year; and you will
have to pay a fine of at least $1,000. In addition, your insurance rates will go up significantly. For second
offences or higher, the minimum penalties include jail time.
Because these penalties are automatic minimum penalties, and because of the government's zero-tolerance
policies, there is little room for negotiation, and these cases tend to go to trial far more often than other cases.
Very few people in society today can afford to have a criminal record, or to lose their licence for a year.
Drinking and Driving Offences/D.U.I.
There are three main drinking and driving offences in the Criminal Code: Impaired Driving (also known as a
“D.U.I.”), meaning “driving while under the influence”; "Over 80"; and Refusing to Provide a Breath Sample.
Impaired Driving means that you were operating a motor vehicle, or were in "care and control" of a motor
vehicle, while your ability to do so was impaired by drugs or alcohol. Impairment can be determined in a
number of ways: from the pattern of driving, for example; or police-administered field sobriety tests; to physical
indicia such as slurred speech, red-rimmed watery eyes, or unsteadiness. "Over 80" means that you were
operating a motor vehicle, or were in "care and control" of a motor vehicle, while you had a blood alcohol
concentration (BAC) of greater than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. The police will conduct a scientific
analysis of seized samples of your breath or blood to determine your BAC at the time of driving. Refusing to
Provide a Breath Sample means that you did not cooperate in providing breath samples so that your blood
alcohol concentration could be analyzed. The legal analysis will focus on what point the inability of the police to
obtain a sample is due to the unwillingness of the subject, and the reasons for the refusal.
The Criminal Code definitions of these offences are set out below:
Operation while impaired
253.(1) Every one commits an offence who operates a motor vehicle or vessel or operates or assists in the
operation of an aircraft or of railway equipment or has the care or control of a motor vehicle, vessel,
aircraft or railway equipment, whether it is in motion or not,
(a) while the person’s ability to operate the vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment is impaired by
alcohol or a drug; or
(b) having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the concentration in the person’s blood exceeds eighty
milligrams of alcohol in one hundred milliliters of blood.