SECTIONS 8 AND 10(B) - NEWS BROADCAST OF BREATH SAMPLES LEADS TO ACQUITTAL
Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 7:41AM A video was played at Mr. Gautam’s exceed .08 trial of a Global TV news piece on the RIDE program. It commenced with a news anchor introducing the piece, and proceeded to air an in-car interview with a police officer and, notably, the actual breath testing of Mr. Gautam in the RIDE truck. The story ended with the reporter speaking to Mr. Gautam as he exited the RIDE truck after release from custody. This case raised two constitutional issues. The first was whether Mr. Gautam’s rights under s. 10(b) of the Charter were violated by the presence and actions of Global News, and the second was whether the Global News recording and broadcast of Mr. Gautam’s roadside investigation and breath testing violated his rights under s. 8 of the Charter. The trial judge found that both of those Charter rights had been violated, the breath evidence was excluded and Mr. Gautam was acquitted. R. v. Gautam, 2017 ONCJ 577