TORONTO — A drunk man found sleeping behind the wheel of his idling parked truck has lost his bid to take his impaired driving conviction to Ontario's top court.
In a decision Wednesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected plans by Hugh O'Neill to argue he had only started the engine to keep warm and had no intention of driving.
O'Neill was found behind the wheel in the early hours of a December morning parked in a lot outside an industrial building in London, Ont. Court documents show a police officer had difficulty waking him. His blood-alcohol level was well in excess of the legal limit. He was convicted at trial. An initial appeal was dismissed.
O'Neill argued at trial that friends had driven him back to his truck after a night of drinking and he climbed in with the aim of sleeping until he was sober. He testified he had woken during the night, got out to relieve himself, and then got back in. At that point, he said, he had started the truck to keep warm and fell asleep again.
However, he insisted he planned to go get breakfast in the morning before driving to work.
![](https://media.darpanmagazine.com/library/uploads/news/content/arested1#</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
at his trial, o'neill took issue with the application of a section of the criminal code that assumes that someone in the driver's seat is deemed to have care or control of the vehicle unless they can show they had no intention of setting the vehicle in motion.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
the trial judge sided with the prosecution that the presumption applied — and that he had failed to rebut it.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
on his initial appeal, he argued his evidence could have supported the conclusion that he had no intention to drive until he had sobered up. the summary appeal judge rejected his view that his intention to drive later did not automatically rebut the legal presumption that he had care and control of the truck when he was found drunk.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
in declining to hear the case, the appeal court noted leave to challenge a decision on a question of law and is granted sparingly and that his grounds were weak.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
"(o'neill) did not satisfy the trial judge that it was his intention to leave the vehicle and to walk to some unidentified place for breakfast," the appeal court said.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
"(his) evidence on this point was ambiguous at best, and he has identified no palpable and overriding error in the trial judge's assessment of that evidence."</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
.jpg)
MORE National ARTICLES
Tata Steel To Sell U.K. Plants: Crisis As Threat Of 40000 Job Losses Looms
Prime Minister David Cameron held a crisis meeting at 10 Downing St., and said the government would do "everything it can" to keep steelmaking in Britain.
Tata Steel To Sell U.K. Plants: Crisis As Threat Of 40000 Job Losses Looms
Winnipeg Man Creates Social Media Accounts With Real Police Officer's Name, Busted
Police say they received multiple complaints from across North America about a police officer inappropriately using social media and other online forums.
Winnipeg Man Creates Social Media Accounts With Real Police Officer's Name, Busted
Aggravated Sex-Assault Conviction Upheld For Ottawa Man Who Hid HIV-Positive Status
In a ruling this week, Ontario's top court upheld the December 2012 jury conviction against Steven Boone, who argued the complainants would have had sex with him anyway.
Aggravated Sex-Assault Conviction Upheld For Ottawa Man Who Hid HIV-Positive Status
Heather Rankin Goes Solo — And Enlists Rapper For Remake Of Tears For Fears Hit
It's an unlikely match — she's a petite traditional singer from small-town Cape Breton with tidy hair, and he's a sneaker-clad emcee who dons backwards hats and spits rhymes about his gritty Halifax suburb.
Heather Rankin Goes Solo — And Enlists Rapper For Remake Of Tears For Fears Hit
Nature Of Policing Makes It Ripe For Unprofessional Behaviour: Canada's Top Mountie Says
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told members of the Vancouver Board of Trade on Thursday that harassment and bullying in the workplace is unacceptable.
Nature Of Policing Makes It Ripe For Unprofessional Behaviour: Canada's Top Mountie Says
Newfoundlanders Say Next Supreme Court Justice Should Come From Their Province
The Supreme Court of Canada will soon have a vacancy, and the president of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador says it's time the new justice came from her province.