OHTA.ca

I've been trying to go through a lot of information on this site and I found some useful information but I haven't come across an answer to my question so I was hoping for some help. I'm not sure if this is the right place but it looked like it might be appropriate to post here, if not I'm sorry.

A quick outline, my fiance was caught at 96 in a 60 zone. She doesn't know what she was going since she was going with the flow of traffic but she's didn't think she was doing anything close to 96. She's of the mind set that if the cop says she was going 96 that she HAD to be no matter what she thinks. I'm trying to get her to fight her ticket but I don't think she really wants to because she believes the cop more.

I'm willing to do all the requests and everything but I doubt she would want to attend the court session. I know you don't have to show up for your own hearing if you have someone show up for you but is there any rules as to who can show up on behalf of someone? I was planning on going in her place if possible, but I don't know if that is allowed and I haven't been able to find out anything that specifies that in either case. I have taken a few law classes in high school and took an elective one in college so I am in no means a professional but have a rough understanding of how the law works and I know that there's a lot of room to get out of the ticket.

If anyone can tell me if I can or can't attend court for my fiance I would be greatful. Even if you can reference me to some sort of documentation regarding this I would be grateful. Thanks.

RWR

you can represent her, you cannot ask for a fee thou, but it would be best if she was there too. as far as documents, you will want to file for disclosure, you can do this at the court address listed on the ticket, or by fax and registered mail. unfortunately, your girlfriend's lack of recollection of the events is not helping the case. file for disclosure and then come back.

There is a Law Society of Upper Canada bylaw on when you can act for someone without being a licenced lawyer or paralegal. I'd suggest you review it. However, regardless of whether you fit all of the criteria outlined in the bylaw, you can only act at the direction of the person who is charged. If they don't want to fight it, you can't take it upon yourself to do it for them.

thanks for your input on this so far, I'll take a look and make sure that I am able to speak for her. I know I can't do anything she doesn't want me to do which is fine, she's ok with me doing the work for her but doesn't really want to deal with the thing herself.

I have an issue right now, my fiance got a speeding ticket and we planned on fighting it. She was going to do the mail in option since it was available in the area but due to the postal lockout and union strike we can't mail it anymore. The location that the ticket advises us to go to is in Goderich but that's over an hour away from the house but is almost 1h30m from her work. I found that Bruce/Grey Counties have locations as well which are a lot close to our house and her work and she could make it to Walkerton easily after work to file the paperwork.

The Bruce/Grey County has 3 locations listed on their website.

1) Administrative office in Owen Sound

2) Satellite office in Walkerton

3) another office in Walkerton

The Owen Sound office has mention that you can attend at 9am every Monday if selecting option #2. The satellite office in Walkerton specifies payments which is for option #1 I am guessing. The other office in Walkerton mentions that you can show up at 9am every Tuesday if selecting option #2. I don't see any mention of where to go if I select option #3.

I have printer off the Notice of Intention to Appear (Form 7) paperwork and have it filled out accordingly but just need to bring it to the right location. Basically I'm hoping I can go to Walkerton as it is only 25-35m away where as Goderich is about 1h and Owen Sound is about 1h40m away.

My question is that because Walkerton has 2 offices, can I go to either of them or do neither Walkerton office accept the paperwork and it has to go to Owen Sound if I choose to file in that set of counties?

I'm really running out of time since and would appreciate any input, if the Goderich office is the closest office that the Form 7 can be filed at then I'll have to get her to leave work about an hour early tomorrow since she's got to be 30 minutes from her job at all times this weekend and the last 2 days before filing so today and tomorrow are her last chances to show up.

IF she can't make it and since there is a postal lockout, is there anything else that can be done to try to fight it as well since it is not our fault that the method we originally choose to file for a trial was since eliminated as an option?

Thanks for any help in advance,

RWR

JPs are NOT accepting the postal strike as an excuse. I've been in court recently and heard it said several times.

send by courier to the address listed on the back of the offence notice. You will then have a tracking method as sent by courier.

Ok well we got a court date booked (I called and they said they were giving a 1 week "leniency window" for anyone who was within their 3-7 days of responding when the strike happened so we had no issues).

I have a few questions and if anyone can help point me in the right direction I'd greatly appreciate it.

The date booked for the court date was actually a day my wife tried to book off for a vacation along with the day before. She was denied that vacation request due to lack of staff available on that day (there is some training going on for 3 weeks starting that week) since she was really needed. After we got to court date she asked again but once again it was denied due to staffing issues. Now I don't think there's really anything for her to testify to so I don't think she'll be needed but wanted to make sure that...

1) If she has nothing to testify (as of now), then I don't believe she will be required to go since I would be speaking on her behalf. Is this correct?

2) If we think of something viable for her to testify to after getting the disclosure, would it be possible for her to write a letter and have it sworn to by the court clerk prior to the trial date or would we have to request an adjournment and hope another date would work for her to attend?

3) I know I'm allowed to represent her thanks to previous help and the reference to Law Society of Upper Canada, but since the Request for Trial did not have anything to fill out, how do I show that I have her permission to make decisions on her behalf regarding any plea acceptance/refusal, and everything else? Is there some sort of paperwork I would have to bring or can I just show up and say I'm representing her and my word is taken?

Well my wife was offered a resolution to a charge of "Disobey Sign" which is significantly better than 96 in a 60 overall. I know that our insurance may go up IF they find the ticket still but my wife didn't think that the risk of losing outweighed the offer.

On a side note, when I was called up on behalf of my wife, the prosecutor advised the JP that I had a disclosure request and that there was no case law supporting the request of typed officer notes as the written ones were not legible. The parts in the notes that were most important were the notes that were likely the most important as they dealt with the stop itself (the testing was mostly legible). The prosecutor's argument was that there was no case law to support that typed notes have to be given out. It caught me off guard since everything I looked up trying to prepare for this case basically said that people got typed notes if needed.

So my question here, for future reference, is the prosecutor right or is there something I can reference to prove him wrong. Could I have argued it was the only way to help me prepare a full defense and as such was a requirement of R. v. Stinchcombe but was unsure at that point.