OHTA.ca

hello guys,

I really need help on fighting my 9 tickets i received from one police officer. Here is some background of what happened!

I was caught speeding 66km on a 40km (school zone) on January 29, 2010. I was driving my friend's car and turns out she didnt renew the validation on the vehicle and didnt leave the up to date insurance paper on the car.

After waiting almost 40 mins in my car i received the following tickets.

1. speeding

2. improper muffler

3. Unnecessary noise

4. Dirty plate (there was a clear cover over the plate)

5. Improper number plate lights (one light was burnt)

6. No current validated permit

7. No current validation on plate

8. Fail to surrender permit

9. Fail to surrender insurance card

The police officer said he will help me out on the day of the trail, if i am able to provide receipts on how i fixed the muffler problem he will scratch off the 2 and 3. Also if i fixed the lights and took the cover off and able to provide a picture he will then scratch off 4 and 5. Furthermore, if i am able to provide that i renew the sticker and show him the current insurance, he will scratch off 6, 7, 8, and 9. So that will leave me with the speeding ticket.

Anyways, the day of the trial was February 2, 2011. And as mention earlier that this vehicle is a friend of mine and she is currently out of the country and waiting to sell the vehicle since she no longer need the vehicle. Therefore, i was unable to provide any of the documents the police officer asked for. Therefore, on the day of the trial i explain to the police officer about the situation and he told me to ask for an adjournment from the JP. My adjournment was granted and now moved to July 13, 2011. The police officer pulled me aside after the trail and told me if i am able to provide him the proof the my friend's car is sold he will still scratch the 2 to 9 tickets i received. and still leaves me with the speeding ticket.

I have the proof that my friend sold the vehicle however i do not one any conviction on my license!

Throughout all this i have requested disclosure twice, one before the first trial date and it was left unanswered and second was sent after the adjournment and that was also left unanswered. I now want to file section 11b since it will be more than 11 months.

My questions are:

1. can i put all my offense on one 11b file?

2. should i challenge the court for all my tickets and not present the proof to the police officer? Or should i present the proof to the officer and challenge the single speeding ticket (is that even possible)?

I am really confused on what i should do! please help me out and give me suggestions please!! I just recently graduated and have no money to paid any ticket at all and my new job requires me to have a clean driving record!

Thank you for any input!

First, the officer has no authority to have the tickets dropped once he submits the tickets to court. He can make recommendations to the prosecutor, but ultimately it is not his call as to what happens, so don't rely on his word that they anything will be dropped. Also, I would be surprised if they would drop 8 out of 9 charges and just leave you with a speeding ticket. I would expect them to pursue more than that, especially if you are going to contest the traffic ticket. In fact, if you are going to request a trail, I can't see them not pursuing ALL of them.

Second, some of those charges probably wouldn't stand on their own because they are duplicates (i.e. 6 and 7 and possibly 3 and 4), so if you took it to trial they might not proceed on all of them.

Third, with respect to an 11(b), it's not just about the total amount of time delay, it's about who it's attributable to and from Feb to July is all on you if you requested the adjournment so that's not going to count for an 11(b).

I got an adjournment because i stated that i have requested disclosure and did not receive it so i was unable to prepare my trial.

How should i proceed on this? should i just plea guilty?

Provide the proof to the officer and see what recommendations he makes to the Prosecutor. 11 months is generally not enough for an 11B, though. Usually you have to cross the 12-month line from the day of the offence. In your case, though, the delay was charged to the Crown for failure to provide disclosure (assuming your requests were proper).

Ok, my understanding from what you wrote was that you requested an adjournment because you didnt have all the documents the officer wanted to see before recommending that certain charges be dropped. That would be on you. If the record reflects that it was because of outstanding disclosure thats a different story, but you didnt mention anything about that.

It's hard to speculate about an 11(b) without all the details, but if January til the following July is all on the crown or institutional delay then you might be in a good position for that argument.

With respect to how to plea, that's a personal decision. Hopefully this information will put you in a better position to decide.

should i bother filing section 11b?

Depends whether you feel it's worth it to put the time/money into it.