The trial judge erred by tossing evidence in the impaired driving case, toppling the chances of convicting Nicholas Villeneuve, said a panel of judges.
Posted: Feb 02, 2021 12:41 PM NT | Last Updated: February 2
Patricia Hynes-Coates has been outspoken about impaired driving for years. She says a recent acquittal in a trial over a crash that killed two people is devastating.(CBC)
In 2019 John and Sandra Lush were killed in a highway accident, their daughter seriously injured, and a fourth person in the car left paralyzed from the waist down.
Nicholas Villeneuve, then 22, was accused of impaired driving causing death, but was acquitted Monday morning on all eight charges after the Crown s key evidence was thrown out.
The judge in the case decided that Villeneuve s charter rights were violated.
Evidence tossed ahead of drunk-driving trial for crash that killed Lewisporte couple
Nicholas Villeneuve, 22, is facing eight charges relating to a crash near Gander in 2019 that killed John Lush, 65, and Sandra Lush, 63, of Lewisporte. The couple s daughter and boyfriend were seriously injured in the incident.
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Posted: Jan 06, 2021 11:01 AM NT | Last Updated: January 6
Nicholas Villeneuve is facing eight charges linked to a two-vehicle crash near Gander in 2019.(Garrett Barry/CBC)
A provincial court judge has ordered the exclusion of several pieces of evidence from a drunk-driving case that killed a Lewisporte couple in 2019.
Judge Mark Linehan, a provincial court judge in Gander, ruled Tuesday that some physical evidence, as well as some notes made by police on the night of a crash, could not be used by the Crown in making its case at trial.