Crown drops impaired driving charges against Nunavut MLA Moses Aupaluktuq

Baker Lake MLA Mose Aupaluktuk has been cleared of drunk driving charges laid in November 2009. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated 4:25 p.m.)

Baker Lake MLA Moses Aupaluktuq will not be required to face drunk-driving charges laid in November 2009, following a decision by Crown lawyers to drop the case.

“I was satisfied on a full review of the evidence… that we could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the vehicle was capable of being put in motion,” Crown prosecutor Chris Punter said of the Crown’s decision, which was announced Nov. 30 at a court sitting in Baker Lake.

Aupaluktuq faced charges of being in control of a vehicle while his ability was alcohol-impaired, and while his blood alcohol level was above the 0.08 legal limit.

“My client and his family are very happy and relieved with the outcome,” said Aupaluktuq’s Rankin Inlet-based lawyer, Patrick Smith.

“We were confident all along once all the facts were put before the Crown lawyer and brought out in the open that he would be exonerated and he did no wrong.”

Such charges do not require that the vehicle be moving, or even that the engine be turned on.

Aupaluktuq has previously told reporters that his vehicle was already stuck in snow when he took shelter in it for the night after locking himself out of his house while drunk.

Police found Aupaluktuq at 3:30 a.m. Nov. 9, 2009 behind the wheel of his vehicle, where it had been backed into a snow-filled ditch.

Aupaluktuq consented to a breathalyzer test, which revealed his blood-alcohol level to be above the legal limit.

In the lead-up to the trial Smith had disclosed six witness statement to the Crown, including a statement from a tow-truck driver who spent 45 minutes pulling Aupaluktuq’s vehicle out of the ditch.

Punter said the issue of whether the vehicle could be put into motion was a “narrow issue,” but one that previous case law shows is required for a conviction.

Aupaluktuq still faces a separate Liquor Act charge on an unrelated matter, unlawful possession of alcohol in Baker Lake, a controlled community.

Aupaluktuq made his first appearance in court on that matter Nov. 30. Crown prosecutor Scott Hughes said the next court date for that is March 1, 2011, for the entry of a plea.

“It’s basically the same as a speeding ticket, the level that we’re looking at,” Hughes said of the liquor act charge, which RCMP laid this past Oct. 1.