A judge threw out breath sample readings that put Dr. Christy Natsis’ blood-alcohol level at 2 1/2 times the legal limit, ruling Monday that an OPP officer made a “flagrant” and “intentional” breach of her right to counsel after a fatal crash.

Judge Neil Kozloff found that Const. Ryan Besner then made six “deliberate, systematic and unwarranted” interruptions before cutting off the Pembroke dentist’s 40-minute call to a lawyer.

That was the “death blow” to her right to counsel, ruled the judge, who found Besner offered “misleading testimony” about why he did it.

Kozloff noted Natsis’ readings were 209 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood about 2 1/2 hours after the crash and 198 mg about 25 minutes later.

The legal limit is 80 mg.

Kozloff said the samples are reliable evidence and excluding them means “gutting” the Crown’s case on one of the “extremely serious” charges she faces.

But Besner’s actions were an “egregious” violation of a provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms underpinning a fair justice system and admitting them would “bring the administration of justice into disrepute.”

Kozloff found that Besner acted with “inappropriate haste” when he arrested Natsis within seconds of seeing her at the scene.

Then he asked how much she’d had to drink after she’d asked for a lawyer, a “flagrant intentional breach of the right to counsel.”

Natsis refused to answer.

Besner said he interrupted the call to make sure Natsis was safe in a Arnprior Hospital bathroom.

But that wasn’t in his notes and Kozloff concluded that Besner, who admitted he felt “jerked around,” was making sure she was still talking to her lawyer and to make it clear police had time-sensitive things to do.

Besner testified he cut off the call over Natsis and her lawyer’s objections because he was concerned to find the “posh-looking lady” lying on the floor.

Kozloff found he felt she had reasonable opportunity to talk to a lawyer and feared her blood-alcohol readings were dropping and it might hurt his investigation.

Kozloff also tossed out anything Natsis said from the time she asked to speak to a lawyer until she completed an uninterruped call early the next morning.

However he left in observations about her “physical demeanour” that Besner and the breath technician — who testified a swaying Natsis had glassy, bloodshot eyes and booze on her breath at the scene — made that night.

megan.gillis@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @ottawasun_megan

Case at-a-glance

Accused: Dr. Christy Natsis, 48

Charged with:Impaired driving, dangerous driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level over 80 mg, all causing death, in the head-on crash on Hwy. 17 near Arnprior that killed Bryan Casey, 50, on March 31, 2011. She has pleaded not guilty.

Up next: Arguments on whether an OPP collision investigator can be declared an expert witness