Is there a way to get out of being subpoenaed for an accident in ontario. i searched here and found only one thread that was related but in that case the person had already been subpoenaed. ( i guess once you are sent the subpoenea then there is no way out ? - what if you travel out of provice/country constantly for work>)
if you have not been subpoenead yet and was told by the officer that you might be .. can you request to not be a witness ?
No, and the consequences for not appearing in court is a $2000 fine and 30-days in jail. If you look at OPS Copper's post, you'll see that they take 'fail to appear' very seriously.
OPS Copper wrote:We had a JP here issue witness warrants for all the missing witnesses. We also made sure that we attended their places of work to arrest them.
You get a few weeks/months advance notice of the trial date. So you can make arrangements to attend, if you have a problem with the date you can contact the courts and see if they can re-schedule for a date of your convenience.
Nothing short of being hospitalized or a family emergency would let you get away for not appearing.
I am starting to suspect that from your line of questions you lied to the police at the scene and later you cannot remember the details of what you said. That is why you are so worried about what they will ask. That you said something not true and now if asked you will not know what to answer.
Just because you witnessed an accident doesnt mean youll be required to attend Court. Many matters never proceed to trial, either because the accused simply pleads guilty or the matter is resolved with a plea deal. Even if the accused initially requests a trial, sometimes a plea deal will be reached on the day of the trial negating any need for you to testify. Theres no way to "opt out" of being a witness, but I really wouldnt worry about it since most matters dont proceed to trial.
If you are eventually subpoenaed, it will probably be several months down the road. The trial could easily be a year or more from when the offence happened. If and when that happens, you can contact the Crowns office to speak with them regarding your concerns. If you were to be legitimately away, they may be able to reschedule to a date that works for you. If youre simply nervous about testifying (which many people are, even people who do so on a regular basis) the Crown will also be able to explain the process to you and walk through what will happen. If you provided police with a written statement at the time of the incident, youll be able to review it and refresh your memory prior to the trial. It might also be beneficial to attend Court for a trial prior to testifying, simply to see how the process works.
Finally ! .. Thank you for sharing your knowledge .
I completely understand that the trial might not even happen however incase it does I do not want to incriminate the said person due to what I learned after talking to the police. I also have learned that it's the officers job to lay charges at the time of the accident and they let the court system deal with how justifies they might have been .. So all this being said, I don't want this person to be found guilty of what he was charged with after simply scratching my car. My statement to police was not written; I was angry at the time and it seems as if there was a bit of miss communication ..
OPS Copper wrote:I am starting to suspect that from your line of questions you lied to the police at the scene and later you cannot remember the details of what you said. That is why you are so worried about what they will ask. That you said something not true and now if asked you will not know what to answer.
OPS
Funny....I got the same feeling. 2 cops, in different parts of the province, who got the same feeling from a read statement. Ya, we must both be wrong.
Do not take anything I say as legal advice. Only a lawyer can give legal advice. I am not a lawyer.