OHTA.ca

Hi,

I got a ticket on June 10th 2020, for failure to stop at a stop sign. I was at a three way stop sign and was taking a right turn. I remember slowing down and coming to a stop to check the traffic around me, but can't challenge this much, I did not have dash cam.

Just after taking the right turn, cop pulled me over from behind and asked me to turn right to another parking lot.

I received a ticket under sec. 136(1)(a).

Should I go for trial?

How can I proceed with this during covid-19?

All limitation periods have been suspended until September 11, 2020. So, you have until then to decide what to do with your ticket and respond. You can choose the option for trial and then request disclosure from the Prosecution office. That way, you'll be able to see what the officer is saying such as how far from the intersection he/she was, whether they were specifically there to enforce the stop signs or if they were just driving by, and what they say about your speed and action. Upon reviewing that, you can then assess whether you have a defence.

Hi highwaystar,

Thank you for your reply. I will wait till September 11, 2020.

Can someone choose option for trial via online? The reason I ask, I called one paralegal refereed by a coworker. He told me that we can apply online for trial and then when the court re-opens they will give us disclosure, etc.

Sounded a bit shady that's why I did not go to him after. But I am still curious if there's any way to apply option for trial via online.

I went to that place again to gather some pictures and videos. It was a Stop sign (All-way) with white line almost washed off. Almost 50%+ of the cars I saw don't come to a full stop. It seemed like a good spot to catch offenders.

As of yet, you can't request a trial online, however, you can request a meeting with the Prosecutor (Early Resolution meeting), so that's an indirect way of getting a trial. As you can imagine, many changes are coming as a result of the new world we now live in. The government wants to reduce the number of people physically needed in the court house so setting trials online is currently being discussed as one of the many changes coming. At present, the government assessors are physically visiting the court houses to see what needs to change in the building to comply with the health regulations. Expanding online and telephone options are definitely being discussed, but that is going to require expanding the technology in the buildings. There's even talk of trials being entirely run by video online. Some jurisdictions are already doing testing.

But, for now, if you want to request an Early Resolution Meeting online, you can do so via this website. When the POA courts re-open more than likely all meetings will be done via telephone (as they currently do for individuals too far to attend physically) so when they send you your details, you'll call in, have your meeting with the prosecutor and if you want to take the deal offered they'll conference in the court and you can plead guilty right away over the phone. If you don't want to take the deal, you can simply say so and they can set it down for trial without you physically needing to go to the courthouse. They'll then mail you your trial notice with the details as to when your trial is.

Hi,

I visited that URL and I can see my case status is Active.

I could not find any option for requesting an Early Resolution Meeting.

When I clicked on Details beside my case number it gave me the ticket amount and offence date. There is another link under it where it says "For more information please go to the municipal court office website". The link goes to http://www.toronto.ca/court_services

And then I visited the above URL and clicked on "Dispute Your Provincial Offence".

And then I clicked on "Early Resolution (Meeting with Prosecutor)" and then select "Online Request".

A new window opens for Court Case Info Form. Entered the Location code, Offense Number, and first 3 characters of last name. And then I clicked on Submit.

But I got this error when I tried on Saturday June 20th, 2020 (13:15hrs EST) :

I am not sure how should I proceed.10 days have passed since the offense happened.

I was able to setup an early resolution meeting by visiting that URL again today (Monday). Yet to receive the meeting date. Will post more updates as I have them.