I have been charged with an HTA offence. Now, the trial is within 8 months from the offence date, so there's no chance in hell I'll get an 11b toss out of it. They also had the disclosure in good order, ready and waiting for me. While I do stand a good chance in court, I wanted to see if this strategy will pad my odds:

If I show up about a month before the court date and have it pushed up, will that make it less likely for the constable and/or the other witness to show up? Would it also help challenge their recollection of the events?

These days most Prosecutors are checking with the officers for their availability when they schedule or re-schedule a court date. It might work, but odds are it won't change much. As for the other witness... who knows? Could work in that the officer might show but not the other witness.

As for challenging the re-collection of events, one month more shouldn't make too much of a difference. The officers get to read from their notebook to "refresh their memory." With a non-police witness, I guess it depends on the individual as far as recollection goes. I've observed a number of HTA trials. Two of them had civilian witnesses, both involving collisions. In one, the witness was completely useless and it actually helped the defendant get the charge tossed. In the other, the witness surprised the courtroom, as he had detailed, exact notes of the incident which he used to help him. So it could go either way, time might work to your benefit if the witness is less than reliable as far as seeing if they trip up in their testimony.

Thanks. I'll probably try it anyway since it can't really hurt me and I have 2 good reasons to back it up. The court date probably won't be pushed by one month. It will be pushed to whenever they can schedule it. Last time it happened (the session ran out of time), it was about four months.

Edit: I would/do appreciate additional input from you and other members.

Did this particular incident involve a collision?

Without going into too much detail on a pending case, I'll say that it did.

hello there

is any one can help me to how to change a court trial date or how to write a request? please

I'd also be curious to get the info. This is the first time it may be in my interest to change the date lol

I take it that the officer did not witness the collision, then. Without the witness, the case becomes more difficult for them to prosecute. That said, they should issue a subpoena for the witness. I guess it also depends on how enthusiastic/time-free the witness is. Suffice to say, if you think that the witness would be detail-oriented, collected and credible, then trying to get a trial date moved cannot hurt. If the witness is completely daft, then it doesn't matter.

Put together a series of questions regarding the incident that you want to ask the witness. The more the witness trips up with regard to relevant details of the collision, the better.

In case the witness would not be highly motivated to help the Crown, would rescheduling the court date make that person even less motivated?

Probably. Here's how to change the trial date:

http://www.ticketcombat.com/step2/change.php

I'd suggest filing the motion for adjournment in advance. The other options really aren't that good.

Thanks. It may be a hassle but it's worth the couple of trips to the courthouse. It's a great site btw.

It turns out an unavoidable job conflict coincided with the scheduled court date, so I went in. Here's the report..

1) If you go in, you better have a very good reason and be prepared to outline it to the JP in great detail.

2) The JP may request for you to settle the matter with the prosecutor. Had I known about that, I would have prepared a sales pitch for the off-chance of them willing to go for it. Of course, the best they're allowed to do is give you a Charmin (R) brand fine reduction that still leaves a conviction on your record. Unable to accept a bylaw charge deal as nothing would have fit the offence, in the interest of saving both my time and the court's time.

3) I recommend trying to eke out a dismissal from the prosecutor first so you can at least be able to tell the JP that you tried to resolve the matter and find a common ground.

4) Once it was determined that a common ground could not be found, the rescheduling was pretty easy and it's based on the court's schedule, the prosecutor's schedule, the constable's schedule and your schedule, so you better have your availability handy.