From Montreal, charged doing 112 in 80, court is 800km away.

I have several problems and I'm wondering what my options are. This past weekend I was driving home from Lake Huron and was caught going 112 in an 80km/h zone. I am currently on my Quebec probationary license which is revoked at 4 demerit points. The penalty in Quebec for going +32 km/h over is 3 demerits, but even then it's cutting things close. The Ontario penalty is 4 demerits, will I receive 3 or 4 demerits if found guilty?

Second problem: if I were to plead not guilty, there is no way, and it would be senseless, for me to travel 1600 km round trip to the jurisdiction, for a court date.

Is there an official procedure for submitting a plea bargain in writing in situations such as this. Even getting the ticket bumped down to +29km/h would save me a fair amount of money, and a demerit point.

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, I wasn't sure if I should post it in the (+~30 km/h) forum or in the Court section.

Thanks in advance

Quebec applies demerit points based on its system, not Ontario's. So if you get convicted of a 32 over in Ontario, you would still get 3 points on your Quebec licence. Likewise, an Ontario driver convicted of 32 over in Quebec would get 4 demerit points applied to his/her Ontario licence.

You cannot plea-bargain in writing. However, you could hire a paralegal or traffic lawyer to go to court for you. Usually in these cases they'd plea-bargain it down to a lesser speed. You might be looking at 15 or 20 over.

Thanks for clearing up the demerits, I'm glad I get to keep my license.

I'm sure you have more experience than I do, but I did a bit of reading, apparently an electronic meeting with the prosecutor should be possible.

(6) The defendant and the prosecutor may, if unable to attend in person because of remoteness, attend their meeting by electronic method in accordance with section 83.1. 2009, c. 33, Sched. 4, s. 1 (6).

Then further down it mentions:

(2) Subject to this section, in any proceeding under this Act or any step in a proceeding under this Act, if the appropriate equipment is available at the courthouse where the proceeding occurs,

(a) a witness may give evidence by electronic method;

(b) a defendant may appear by electronic method;

(c) a prosecutor may appear and prosecute by electronic method; and

(d) an interpreter may interpret by electronic method. 2009, c. 33, Sched. 4, s. 1 (48).

Would hiring a paralegal cost more than the ticket?

The particular electronic method you mentioned is not available in your case. The courts in Ontario (well, except maybe those responsible for the Hudson Bay coastline) require someone to go there in person.

Hiring a paralegal would cost more than the ticket, in and of itself. However, if you simply pay the ticket, you then have the insurance rate increase to deal with in addition to the fine. I'm not too familiar with SAAQ but I can tell you that usually paying the ticket ends up costing more in the long run than hiring a paralegal to fight it, depending on the outcome of course.

You cannot hire a paralegal in Quebec. It's either a lawyer or DIY.

You can respond to the ticket with Not Guilty and wait for a hearing date (currently the wait is greater than 2 years). Once you receive the hearing notice, you can call the Crown Attorney to ask for a reduction / plea bargain. They will likely do so. Be polite...

Note that the police officer does not have to be in court for you to be convicted (unlike Ontario). If you want the PO to be there, you must request it and then if you lose, you will pay extra for having the witness there. Plus you have to pay court costs as well. Since you have a such a long distance to travel, unless you have a really strong case that you feel you can win, you may want to consider the plea bargain route. GL

G35Dalf wrote:

You cannot hire a paralegal in Quebec

This offence took place in Ontario.

Radar Identified wrote:

G35Dalf wrote:

You cannot hire a paralegal in Quebec

This offence took place in Ontario.

Sorry, misread the OP's comments. Thanks.