Careless Charge - No Accident

Some of us think your video does show careless and others of us don't. Given the seriousness of a careless charge, a plea might be the better option to at least consider.

So I never took down the video, Unsure of why it was removed. Anyways, due to the severity of the charge, I think I will just seek a plea deal out of it. I was never willing to fight this one on my own (was going to hire a lawyer), just wanted opinions on whether I should accept a plea bargain (something I could do on my own), or hire a lawyer to fight it (if it showed that it was a great chance it could be beaten).

The YOUTUBE video was available this afternoon.

UnluckyDuck wrote:

So I never took down the video, Unsure of why it was removed. Anyways, due to the severity of the charge, I think I will just seek a plea deal out of it. I was never willing to fight this one on my own (was going to hire a lawyer), just wanted opinions on whether I should accept a plea bargain (something I could do on my own), or hire a lawyer to fight it (if it showed that it was a great chance it could be beaten).

You don't need to hire a lawyer for a case of this nature and get into high hourly billing rates. Virtually all Ontario paralegals handle cases of this nature for a flat-rate cost. There can be an opportunity cost to proceeding to self-represent at court. On the positive side, you save some legal fees. On the negative side, you don't know what you're doing, relevant case law, or court process and can end up with a comparatively poorer outcome. The ultimate goal is to protect your financial and licencing interests as much as possible. The best avenue to that end is to have the charge withdrawn or dismissed, and a licenced paralegal will give you the best shot at that. If the charge can't be withdrawn before trial, a good paralegal will do two things. Firstly, negotiate the best possible potential resolution with direct experience with the given court, prosecutor, and officer. Secondly, review that offer with you within the context of the legal merits of the Prosecutor's case.

It is an unfortunately common experience to see self-represented defendants at court either accepting poor resolution offers or proceeding to trial and being convicted due to a poorly run defence.

Ok guys, Update here.

Had my trial yesterday. Spoke with the prosecutor before hand, I told her I was ready to proceed, and she said she was as well, and didn't want to offer me a deal. Officer was in attendence. There were 10 careless charges on the docket, most of them plead guilty to either "Unsafe Lane Change" or "Improper Left/Right Turn." Court had a break, where the prosecutor offered me a deal for "Unsafe Lane Change" which I responded "No Thank You, I would like to proceed at trial." At the end of the break, prosecutor spoke with me and the officer and said "Ok, Final offer, I'll amend the charge to 'Improper Use of Turn Signal' at a $85 fine and 0 points". I gladly took that deal, paid the fine ($110 after fees) and left. I was quoted by 3 different paralegals all charging about $600 and saying that they will guarentee a reduced sentence, where I went in on my own and got an amazing deal. Just goes to show, don't jump the gun and hire a paralegal asap.

Thanks for the update. Nice to hear back from people at the end of the process. Nice outcome for you.

OTD Legal wrote:

It is an unfortunately common experience to see self-represented defendants at court either accepting poor resolution offers or proceeding to trial and being convicted due to a poorly run defence.

^^^ this

You don't do brain surgery on your friends and family NOR yourself, you get a trained surgeon to do it for you.

UnluckyDuck wrote:

Ok guys, Update here.

Had my trial yesterday. Spoke with the prosecutor before hand, I told her I was ready to proceed, and she said she was as well, and didn't want to offer me a deal. Officer was in attendence. There were 10 careless charges on the docket, most of them plead guilty to either "Unsafe Lane Change" or "Improper Left/Right Turn." Court had a break, where the prosecutor offered me a deal for "Unsafe Lane Change" which I responded "No Thank You, I would like to proceed at trial." At the end of the break, prosecutor spoke with me and the officer and said "Ok, Final offer, I'll amend the charge to 'Improper Use of Turn Signal' at a $85 fine and 0 points". I gladly took that deal, paid the fine ($110 after fees) and left. I was quoted by 3 different paralegals all charging about $600 and saying that they will guarentee a reduced sentence, where I went in on my own and got an amazing deal. Just goes to show, don't jump the gun and hire a paralegal asap.

NICE !

But it could have gone either way though nes pas ?

Sometimes you win

Sometimes you loose

Sometimes you draw

But the odds are against you the "house" always wins

Congratulations on sticking it out to the end. At least the reduced charge is significantly better on your record than a careless one.