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
'Why Didn't I Stop Him?' TV Doc On Calgary Mother's Radicalization Battle Airs Thursday
A Calgary mother who finds out from a reporter that her son had been killed fighting with an extremist group in Syria is both the subject and voice of a new TV documentary slated to air this week.
'Why Didn't I Stop Him?' TV Doc On Calgary Mother's Radicalization Battle Airs Thursday
Boy Airlifted To Calgary Hospital After Falling From Chairlift At Lake Louise
EMS says they were called to the scene at around 2:30 Monday afternoon.
Boy Airlifted To Calgary Hospital After Falling From Chairlift At Lake Louise
No Charges Against Toronto Dad Whose Baby Was Subject Of Amber Alert: Police
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook says the man was standing "a few feet away" from the vehicle when the suspect jumped in and drove off Sunday afternoon.
No Charges Against Toronto Dad Whose Baby Was Subject Of Amber Alert: Police
Experienced Snowmobiler From Seattle Dies After Falling Into Pemberton Glacier Crevasse
The 53-year-old man was part of a group of 10 people, all from Seattle, who were riding Saturday on the Pemberton Icefield's Appas Glacier, about 150 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Experienced Snowmobiler From Seattle Dies After Falling Into Pemberton Glacier Crevasse
B.C. Photographer Found Safe And Sound After Spending The Night Outdoors
RCMP and search-and-rescue crews launched a rescue operation after learning a wildlife enthusiast had failed to return from a day-long photo excursion around the community of Golden, B.C.
B.C. Photographer Found Safe And Sound After Spending The Night Outdoors
Ontario Regulation Bans Random Street Checks Or Carding By Police
Of course there's costs involved, but we need to make sure that this cost will result in trust and respect between our police and our communities