A judge found a woman not guilty on Friday of driving drunk in a fatal August 2017 collision after blood alcohol evidence was disallowed.
Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Monica Bast said Crown prosecutors did not prove within a reasonable doubt that Bobbi Crotty was impaired when the collision happened on Hwy 11A on Aug. 5, 2017 just west of Red Deer.
Three people were injured and a 36-year-old woman was killed in the three-vehicle collision.
Crotty went to trial in September on charges of impaired driving causing death and three charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm. The then-24-year-old was charged last October.
RELATED:
Decision coming in impaired driving trial
Woman charged after fatal collision
Crown prosecutors had to make their case without blood alcohol evidence. Blood samples taken after Crotty was admitted to hospital following the collision were earlier deemed inadmissible.
“The blood alcohol test results were inadmissible because Miss Crotty’s charter rights were violated,” said defence lawyer Maurice Collard outside court.
“Based on the admissible evidence there was not enough evidence remaining for this judge to convict Miss Crotty.
“This whole situation was a tragedy. But where passions are most inflamed, justice is most in jeopardy, and we cannot allow tragedy to triumph over the Charter of Rights or the laws of evidence.”
Crotty sobbed as the judge found her not guilty. Almost two dozen people had come to the courtroom and there were audible gasps in the courtroom when Bast announced her decision.
Crotty was behind the wheel of a Dodge Nitro about 11 p.m. on Aug. 5 when she failed to move over when her westbound lane on Hwy 11A merged into a single lane. She hit a Mitsubishi Lancer with a driver and two passengers nearly head on.
The Lancer was then spun into a Ford Escape, injuring that driver.
A 36-year-old passenger in the rear seat of the Lancer died from her injuries.
Bast said during Crotty’s September trial an RCMP officer testified that he smelled stale alcohol on Crotty’s breath but noticed no other signs of impairment in the three hours he spent with her at the scene and at hospital.
The police officer testified that he heard Crotty tell ambulance fire-medics that she had “two or three drinks.”
Crotty was not speeding and her driving pattern was not erratic before her vehicle failed to merge and hit the Lancer, her trial heard.
However, Bast said there was no evidence about what sorts of drinks Crotty had or when she had them. The evidence only proved some alcohol consumption at some time, not impairment.