Drinking and Driving - Defence Technicalities

 Did the police see you driving or sitting in your vehicle behind the wheel?  Was there a witness?  If you made an oral, written, or video statement admitting to driving, did the police follow all the rules in reading your rights?  Did the police have a valid reason for stopping you, eg. a R.I.D.E. program?  Did the police conduct physical tests at the scene and more importantly can the Crown use the results against you in Court?  Did the police use a roadside screening device?  Did the officer make a formal demand? Did another police officer have to bring it to the scene?  Was it properly calibrated? Was it used by the same officer who made the demand?  Was there alcohol in your mouth from a recently consumed drink?  Did the police speak to you in a language you understood?  Did they read you your rights and tell you about 24 hour free advice from duty counsel?  Were you too intoxicated to understand?  Did the police make a formal demand that you provide a breath sample at the police station into an Approved Instrument?  Did the police have reasonable and probable grounds for the demand? What does your disclosure show about the police officer's notes regarding the indicia of impairment?  Were you given a real opportunity at the police station to consult with a lawyer in private?  Was the first police station breath test conducted within 2 hours of driving or care or control?  Do the police know the exact time of driving or accident?  Were the tests taken 15 minutes apart?  What were the qualifications of the breath tech?  Was the machine an "approved instrument"?  Has the Crown provided you with disclosure of calibration checks, diagnostic checks, and ADAMS or COBRA data?  Was the instrument functioning properly?  Did the police waste time prior to the breath tests taking detours along the road, doing unnecessary paperwork, waiting for the breath tech, going to the wrong police station, fixing the breath machine?  Were the tests taken "as soon as practicable"? See section 258 of the Criminal Code  Are the results of the breath test totally erroneous?  Based on what you know you drank should you have blown a lot less? Do you have "evidence to the contrary"?  Perhaps a toxicologist should be retained to calculate your correct blood alcohol concentration.  Should you serve the Crown with a Notice of Application for a remedy excluding evidence under s. 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?  Has the Crown provided you with complete disclosure of their case including documents and materials helpful to you?  Has any evidence been destroyed?  Will the Crown be calling the breath tech to give evidence or will the Crown file the "Certificate of Analysis"?  Has the matter come on for trial within a reasonable time or have there been unacceptable delays due to Crown requested adjournments, paperwork foul-ups, or systemic problems in the Courts?  If convicted, is this a first offence, a second offence, or a third? Did the police serve you with "Notice of Increased Penalty" and did they follow all the rules for service?