Drug and blood tests found admissible at trial of man accused in Brampton crash that killed 4 – Toronto | The Canadian News

An Ontario court judge has rejected a defense motion to dismiss evidence despite the judge’s ruling that the defendant’s rights were violated in a high-profile case involving an accident that killed a Caledon teacher from 36 years old and her three young daughters. .

Judge Sandra Caponecchia, who is presiding over the trial with only one judge from Brady Robertson, 21, issued the ruling in Brampton virtual court on Wednesday.

In July, Robertson pleaded guilty to the dangerous motor vehicle operation that killed Karolina Ciasullo and her three children, six-year-old Klara, three-year-old Lilianna, and one-year-old Mila Ciasullo.

Robertson has pleaded not guilty to four counts of impaired drug operation of a motor vehicle and not guilty in connection with a collision two days earlier.

On June 18, 2020, Robertson was speeding east on Countryside Road. As he approached Torbram Road, he used the left turn lane on Countryside Road to bypass vehicles that were stopped for a red light.

Robertson disobeyed the red light and went through the intersection. When it did, it collided with a Volkswagen Atlas heading north on Torbram Road at a green light.

A hydraulic pole fell on the Volkswagen. Two other vehicles were also affected. Ciasullo and his three daughters died.

A police officer who had noticed that Robertson’s vehicle did not have a license plate tried unsuccessfully to reach him. The officer was approximately 200 meters behind Robertson’s Infiniti sports car when the collision occurred.

In July, during a mixed and voir dire trial in which an agreed statement of facts was presented, defense attorneys argued that the drugs located in Robertson’s car and the analysis of his blood by a toxicologist should be excluded because the rules were violated. Robertson’s charter rights.

Caponecchia agreed that Robertson’s statutory rights were violated in three cases, including when an officer searched Robertson’s car six days after the accident during a mechanical inspection and found drugs in the glove compartment.

And in another case, when an officer seized a vial of what appeared to be urine, knowing that the order he was responsible for writing was for blood.

Caponecchia concluded that “overall, the cumulative nature of the offenses in this case outweighs the inclusion of drugs and blood evidence than exclusion.”

“This is a serious crime that resulted in the tragic death of a mother of her three young children in the middle of a summer day. It was committed by a young adult driving a newly purchased car with eight times the legal limit for THC in the blood just one hour after the crime was committed. The crime took place less than two years after the legalization of cannabis, ”he said.

“With the relatively recent advent of the legalization of this recreational drug, there is strong societal interest in adjudicating cases of drug-impaired driving where multiple deaths are caused, without the establishment of one or more egregious violations of the Charter. . This is not one of those cases. I am satisfied that the administration of justice would be discredited by the exclusion of evidence in this case. “

The judge will return to court in November to decide whether she is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Robertson was under the influence of drugs at the time of the collision. Depending on the decision, the court heard that there could be a constitutional challenge to that decision.

Defense attorney Craig Bottomley declined to comment on Wednesday’s 32-page sentence. Robertson has been in custody since he was arrested at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, where he was being treated for two broken legs six days after the day of the fatal collision.