His Majesty the King v. Kelly
Dayton Kelly was driving at night on Highway 86 in October 2021 when his car struck a horse-drawn buggy entering the highway from a sideroad. He was travelling well above the 80 km/hr limit. Both occupants of the buggy died. Blood samples later showed that the amount of THC in his blood was above the legal limit, and he was convicted of the basic offence of driving with an illegal amount of THC.
The trial judge acquitted Kelly of the two counts of causing death while driving with THC because the parties agreed there was no evidence that the amount of THC in his blood itself caused the collision. The Court of Appeal for Ontario held that this was a legal error. It ruled that the Criminal Code does not require the Crown to prove a separate causal link between the amount of THC in the driver’s blood and the deaths. The Crown need only prove the underlying offence and ordinary legal causation, meaning that Kelly’s driving was a significant contributing cause of death. A new trial was ordered.