EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY - FEVER INUFFIENCIENT TO REBUT PRESUMPTION
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 12:10PM Can an elevated but unascertained body core temperature be sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt regarding the actual blood alcohol reading of an accused at the time of an alleged offence.
The defence expert testified that if the accused had been suffering from fever at the time of the breath testing, the results could be inaccurate. An increase in body temperature of 1 degree can affect the readings by as much as 8.9%.
The Court of Appeal held that since the expert did not have any evidence of what the accused's actual body temperature was at the time of the testing, his evidence merely demonstrated that that the accused might or might not have been over the legal limit.
The court also pointed out that if one were to accept the accused's evidence regarding his drinking pattern, his actual blood alcohol level would have been 60 and his body temperature would have had to be 44.05 degrees (in other words he would have been comatose or worse). R. v. Kasim, 2011 ABCA 336