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
Health Canada Moving Quickly To Regulate Dangerous Opioid Drug W-18
Health Canada says it is moving quickly to include the dangerous synthetic opioid W-18 under the federal Controlled Drug and Substances Act but maintains the drug is already illegal under another law.
Health Canada Moving Quickly To Regulate Dangerous Opioid Drug W-18
Grandfather Of Toddler Who Died From Meningitis Says Boy Lethargic, Not Ill
Anthony Stephan is the father of David Stephan, who along with wife Collet, are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life for their 18-month-old son Ezekiel.
Grandfather Of Toddler Who Died From Meningitis Says Boy Lethargic, Not Ill
CBSA Arrests Man, 29, Posing As High School Basketball Player In Windsor, Ont.
The Canadian Border Services Agency says Jonathan Nicola was arrested this week for contravening the Immigration Refugee Protection Act.
CBSA Arrests Man, 29, Posing As High School Basketball Player In Windsor, Ont.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service Says Policy Review Into Bear Cubs Rescue Coming
VANCOUVER — British Columbia's Conservation Officer Service says an internal policy review related to last year's high-profile case of an officer refusing to euthanize two orphaned bear cubs will soon be complete.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service Says Policy Review Into Bear Cubs Rescue Coming
Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Allow Patients Covered By Old Law To Grow Their Own Pot
Canadians who won the constitutional right to grow their own medical marijuana are going back to court to ask a judge to change the decision, allowing those excluded from an injunction to immediately start growing their own.
Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Allow Patients Covered By Old Law To Grow Their Own Pot
Unions And Families Call For Asbestos Ban: 'Why Let Proven Killer Walk Free?'
OTTAWA — Trade unions and affected family members say it's long past time to ban all asbestos products in Canada, calling them the country's number one workplace killer.