IMPAIRED AND EXCEED .08 CAUSING DEATH - CAUSATION AND POST-DRIVING DRINKING ISSUES ANALYZED

Mr. Hinkley ran over and killed his mother while driving a Peterbilt tractor trailer out of a Quonset on his parents’ farm. He blew 0.19 roughly two hours after the incident. Causation was somewhat problematic, and Mr. Hinkley testified that he drank 20 ounces of vodka after he drove but before the breath samples. He was convicted at trial and the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal. There was "plenty" of evidence to reject the "post-accident consumption of alcohol defence", including emergency personnel not seeing a vodka bottle at the scene. As to causation:

[I]f impairment is more than a minimal cause of the death, it is open to a trial judge to find that the impairment was the cause of the death and, in this case, did find that the appellant’s impairment caused his mother’s death. The trial judge expressly made reference to the accused’s lack of judgment in not adjusting the driver’s seat to a height where his ability to see what was in front of him was improved. Poor judgment is also an indicator of impairment. R. v. Hinkley, 2013 ABCA 207