Truro man found guilty of failing breathalyzer

Charter of Rights argument rejected by court earlier

A Truro man, who had previously attempted to have his breathalyzer readings ruled inadmissible on a Charter of Rights argument, was found guilty this week in provincial court.

Michael Leo Howlett, 61, of Queen Street, was fined $1,300 and had his driving privileges suspended for one year. He was also fined $650 after being found guilty of resisting arrest.

Howlett had sought to have his breathalyzer readings disallowed after it was determined the duty counsel he spoke to after being arrested in February 2017, was at that time under an administrative suspension by the Nova Scotia Barristers Society.

During a court hearing in December, however, Provincial Court Judge Al Bégin dismissed Howlett’s charter application.

Although Bégin ultimately concluded that Howlett’s rights had indeed been breached by the lawyer’s administrative suspension, he said that in balancing out the degree of impact against the importance of the breathalyzer readings to the case, the breach was not sufficient to warrant excluding that evidence.

“Society seeks that allegations of criminal conduct be evaluated and determined on the merits,” Bégin ruled in December.

“However, this must all be balanced against the need to have a system which determines allegations without doing so in a way that undermines the ultimate or longterm integrity of the system.”