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
B.C. Relaxes Child Care Subsidy Eligibility Rules Around Support Payments
Children's Ministry says child support payments will no longer be part of the calculations that determine child care subsidies for low-income families in British Columbia
B.C. Relaxes Child Care Subsidy Eligibility Rules Around Support Payments
Ontario Woman Charged For Giving Water To Pigs Saves Goat From Slaughterhouse
Anita Krajnc was in a Milton courthouse last Thursday where she faces a mischief charge following a protest last June with her group, Toronto Pig Save, in Burlington, Ont.
Ontario Woman Charged For Giving Water To Pigs Saves Goat From Slaughterhouse
Child Welfare In Manitoba Election Spotlight As Liberals Vow To Cut Kids In Care
Manitoba's beleaguered child-welfare system came under the provincial election spotlight Wednesday with promises from all parties to cut a record number of kids in care.
Child Welfare In Manitoba Election Spotlight As Liberals Vow To Cut Kids In Care
Warm Weather Prompts Special Avalanche Warning For B.C. And Yukon
Avalanche Canada says a forecast calling for warm weather until Friday is expected to affect the Yukon to the United States border and the Pacific to the Rockies.
Warm Weather Prompts Special Avalanche Warning For B.C. And Yukon
Ex-General Delivers 'sunny Ways' Reality Check Ahead Of Liberal Defence Review
The blunt talk by retired lieutenant-general Mike Day comes as the Trudeau government mulls options for its much-anticipated defence policy review, which will set the future course for the military.
Ex-General Delivers 'sunny Ways' Reality Check Ahead Of Liberal Defence Review
Fire In First Nation Community In Northern Ontario Kills 9, Including Three Kids
"We're being told nine, including three kids. That's what I was told this morning," Robert Nault said Wednesday in an interview from Ottawa.