Out of town trial, no disclosure, trial April 11?

Hi everyone,

I recieved a speeding ticket in a very rural area. I live in the GTA and the ticket was recieved 700 km away between Sault Ste Marie and Blind River. The area is not clear as it is farmland and townships. Speeding was 30 km over. I overtook a car and then came to a downhill slope..car was still speeding and cop clocked me on the slope.

I filed for a trial date in Nov. 2012. I recieved my trial date 6 weeks prior to my trial. Trial is on April 11. I filed for disclosure as soon as I recieved my trial date in the mail and still have not recieved a response.

I am so confused on what i can do. Theres no ticket agent there. I cannot travel to my trial either. I feel the trial date was a short notice. I was thinking of sending my father in law in but he doesnt have an idea of how to proceed or anything like that.

Can someone please assist me? Any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Sen your father in law and have him ask for the disclosure.

Ask for disclosure at the trial? Sorry that doesnt make sense? The only thing was I was thinking of asking my father in law to go for the actual trial...he has no idea what to do....going into the trial at this point is not possible as I did not even get a disclosure.

Just because you haven't received disclosure doesn't mean they are not going to run the trial. Have nobody show up and watch the conviction appear on you record.

Obviously, I know they are going to trial. My right for disclosure was violated. Not only that, i had a 6 week notice of trial. Why would i go into trial without my disclosure? The whole point is to fight the ticket....

Unfortunately someone is going to have to show up on your court date otherwise you will be convicted by default. Is your trial at the Blind River or the Sault Ste Marie court? You can send your father in law and see if he feels up to asking to have your trial delayed because of the lack of disclosure, however if he is unfamiliar with the court process he might not want to do this.

Alternatively I did a Google search and found one paralegal company that says they attend both those court locations. I've never dealt with this company so I have no idea if they are any good but it might be worth calling them just to see if they can handle this for you at a reasonable price. Here is the link to their webpage: http://snap.ca/

Bil22 wrote:

Ask for disclosure at the trial? Sorry that doesnt make sense?

Yes. 6 weeks isn't an unreasonable amount of time to wait for disclosure. It's not going to be considered anyone's fault. They will likely have disclosure ready for you at the trial that you can pick up. They will reschedule your trial to another date.

Bil22 wrote:

Obviously, I know they are going to trial. My right for disclosure was violated. Not only that, i had a 6 week notice of trial. Why would i go into trial without my disclosure? The whole point is to fight the ticket....

What he is trying to say is have someone there to represent you. If no one shows up, you will automatically be convicted. No one will care whether you have disclosure or not if you don't appear.

Daggx and bend thanks for your replies. What I meant is they sent me my trial date 6 weeks prior to the actual trial. I requested disclosure immediately. I read you should request disclosure at least 9 weeks prior..but they only gave me 6 week notice for the trial itself.

My father in law is not very good with English (European).. Would it be a bad idea to have him go in and say we didnt recieve disclosure and to ask for a stay of proceedings? Ive explored my options for a paralegal but theres not any known ones there (i spoke to a couple paralegals in sudbury).

Also, theres no way for me to attend court. I have a recent back injury (disc problem) and was in the hospital today. Will be going in for an MRI tomorrow. Im not able to walk properly either so I cannot efen consider traveling to my trial. Is there anyway I can use this for a stay of proceedings?

Thanks again for your time

I just wanted to say, after I posted this I had a severe back injury resurface and was in the hospital. Dr wants to run more tests and MRI tomorrow morning. One leg is numb and is written in the medical report. I cannot walk properly or do much and missed work today. I have no way to attend to my trial. Is there a way I can get this rescheduled if I can get a note from the doctor? I couldnt find any info online on last minute rescheduling. And my trial is on Monday so I only have tomorrow left. Please advise. Thank you

If you can get a note from your doctor you can have someone, like your father in law, appear at court on your assigned court date and tell the Justice of the Peace that you have become too ill to attend. At that point they will probably reschedule your court date to a later time. The final decision on whether to allow you to reschedule your court date rests with the presiding Justice of the Peace so there is always a chance that they could deny your request. However, if you have a doctors note I think the odds are pretty good that they would allow you to change your court date.

Hi, thanks I think that is what well do.

Does my father in law or the court need a form or letter signed by me to let him represent me? I could not find any info online. Thanks again for your help!

You should really contact the prosecutor by phone as a courtesy and give them a heads up. They may even consent to an adjournment as long as you fax a copy of the Dr. letter before the trial date. Can't hurt to try.

Yes, but unfortunately, it is too late to contact the prosecutor as the trial is tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM (I made a mistake on the date on the thread title)

I told my father in law to go in for me...I'm assuming no letter or consent is needed for him to represent me? I scanned him the doctors notes and tests. He will go in and ask to reschedule it .... but...

What if the officer did not show up? Is there anyway he would be able to find out this information and get the charges dropped?

Thanks in advance

Bil22 wrote:

What if the officer did not show up? Is there anyway he would be able to find out this information and get the charges dropped?

It depends on the prosecutor. I've seen prosecutors who will drop the charges and move on if the officer isn't available. I've seen prosecutors who will pretend like the officer is there and go through the whole shenanigans of a plea deal and other nonsense knowing full well they can't even have a trial to begin with.

Unless your representative is willing to take this to a trial, you are most likely not going to catch any breaks.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your advice. My father in law went into court today. They were able to reschedule for August.

However, they gave him the disclosure on the spot and claimed that I did not leave my contact info for them. Which is a lie because I clearly left my mailing address and not my phone number. My father in law also gave them my number.

Now..can I request for disclosure via mail again because its not his job to send me the documents..? The prosecutor seemed clever enough to give disclosure at the trial..can i send a request again via mail since thats what i initially requested? What would be the best way to go from here to win this trial? Thanks again

Bil22 wrote:

Now..can I request for disclosure via mail again because its not his job to send me the documents..? The prosecutor seemed clever enough to give disclosure at the trial..can i send a request again via mail since thats what i initially requested?

I cant see there being any requirement for the Crown to resend disclosure directly to you. Your father was acting as your representative and accepted the disclosure when provided. Regardless of your initial request, the Courts will likely consider disclosure being provided to your representative as sufficient.

Bil22 wrote:

Now..can I request for disclosure via mail again because its not his job to send me the documents..?

Definitely not. If he's not good enough to pick up the disclosure, he's not good enough to represent you. Therefore, your trial should have continued as usual and you should have been found guilty for no showing. I suggest you prepare to defend yourself and not rely on this tactic for your next trial.

I agree with the others the court will consider giving the disclosure to your representative sufficient. Have your Father in Law send it down to you and lets see what is in it. Once you know what evidence they have, you can start building a proper defense.