Our Client Found Not Guilty of Drink Driving

Case study summary

Our client was charged with drink driving after an incorrect blood reading. We explored every option available and fought the case until we won at trial.

Case study

Our client approached us after he had been charged with drink driving. The police had stopped him after driving home from an event. The police thought our client was under the influence of alcohol; our client volunteered that he had consumed some alcohol much earlier that day but thought he would be far below the legal limit.

The police could not locate a breath testing kit in the area, so our client was arrested and then a blood sample was taken. Our client was shocked when his blood sample was significantly over the legal limit. He had consumed a small amount of alcohol hours before driving.

When our client first approached us, he thought he had to plead guilty even though he knew the blood test result was wrong. He was an amputee and was having difficulties wearing a prosthetic limb. This meant he was largely housebound, and his adapted car was the only way he could could travel. A conviction for drink driving would result in disqualification from driving.

We explained that you should only ever plead guilty if you are guilty because pleading guilty is an admission of guilt. His case may have challenges, but we would fight the prosecution for as long as he instructed us to.

We prepared the case in great detail, checking that everything about the blood test complied with police procedure. As is common, the prosecution had not sent us every piece of relevant material. We relentlessly pressured them until they provided everything we needed to prepare our client’s case.

We hand-selected an experienced and well-regarded toxicologist to prepare a detailed report. He concluded that if our client had consumed the amount of alcohol that he instructed us he had, then he would not have exceeded the limit.

On the day of the trial, the prosecution arrived badly prepared– they had not located all of their evidence, and their witnesses were not there. They wanted to push the trial back and applied to the court to adjourn.

We fought this application as we were thoroughly prepared, and our client had experienced great physical difficulties getting to court. We successfully persuaded the court that the trial could not be adjourned. This left the Crown with no such but to offer no evidence and the court formally entered a not guilty verdict. Our specialist advocate was adaptable and capitalised on the opportunity to win the case.

Our client was very relieved that he could maintain his independence.