The defendant was charged with Impaired Driving and Over 80. Once all the evidence was in and we were about to commence legal argument, the Crown requested to meet with me in private. As a result of concerns he had about the strength of his case on both counts, he agreed to a resolution whereby both criminal charges were dismissed and the defendant was allowed, instead, to plead guilty to the Highway Traffic Act offence of Careless Driving. The defendant had to pay a fine and was put on a probation order which included a six month period where he could not drive for the first three months and could drive for work purposes only for the second three months. Once the six months were up, his driving privileges would be fully restored. This resolution allowed the defendant to avoid a criminal record and to save his job in the process.
