OHTA.ca

On December 10th 2011, I was pulled over for speeding 118km/h in an 80km/h road. The officer spent a good 5-10 minutes yelling at me about how he could give me careless driving, take me off the road for a very long time ect. ect.

He issued me a ticket of 110km/h in an 80km/h road, and I decided to take it to trial. A few months later I received a letter stating my first appearance meeting is dated for June 21st 2012, in the letter it states that it is not mandatory for me to show up to this meeting, and if I choose not to show up my notice of trial will be mailed to me shortly after. I decided not to show up to the meeting and way for my notice of trial to arrive. **NOTE** The address on this letter was incorrect and I was not aware of the mistakes at the time, I just read my name and opened the letter.**

It was mid August I still did not receive my notice of trial(By this I already received my notice of trial for another ticket I received in May 2012) So I decided to go to the court house to file for disclosure on both tickets.

When I arrived at the Court house the clerk told me I had to have a court date before filing for disclosure. I asked her if there was a reason for the delay on my notice of trial and she told me to simply wait for it to arrive in the mail. Regardless I filled out two forms for disclosure, on the 30km/h ticket disclosure I just left the trial date part blank.

Months and months go by without anything, by this time I was preoccupied with school and my other speeding ticket. Finally on February 19th, 2013 I received a pink letter stating that I was convicted on November 21st 2012 and I still have not paid for it so they put me on collections and will be suspending my license in 15 days.

I took this letter to the court house and explained the situation, during this time the clerk noticed the mistake in my address (both the number and spelling were wrong) and told me I had to file a form to reopen the case. On March 11th 2013 I received a letter stating that my case has been reopened, and on April 15th 2013 I received a letter with my notice of trial dated for June 3rd 2013, only a month and a half away from the day I received the letter.

I was finally able to file for disclosure (I did so via email) and received it within a day.

The officer left no notes and only filled out a Radar Evidence sheet and put a few notes on the back of it. I looked it over and cannot clearly make out any of the information which is written out without assuming what he was trying to say.

What should I do in this situation? Am I eligible to file an 11b based off of this error, or is there something else I should do?

Thanks for the help.

You might be able to get off on terms of 11b (right to speedy trial). You might be able to move for a stay of the case because it infringed on your rights to a speedy trial, resulting in undue stress and anxiety in your daily life and family life, etc. (not a legal expert, I'm fighting my own ticket too, look at my post if you want!)

As well, if the disclosure is illegible, you could also move to delay the trial/ try to get it thrown out on basis of not getting acceptable disclosure (illegibility)

-Good luck!

If you are considering filling an 11(b) motion you need to divide up all the time periods (between each appearance or event) and think about whether they are attributable to normal intake, crown delay, institutional delay, or defence delay. It's only where the crown and institutional delay is unacceptably long that you are potentially eligible for a stay. Also, the amount of delay alone is not determinative, prejudice (which can be specific or inferred) is also a significant factor.

With respect to the inadequate disclosure, you are appear to be talking about a stay for a violation of your rights under s. 7 of the Charter - namely that the lack of disclosure has impaired your ability to make full answer and defence. However you must remember that a stay is not an automatic remedy; it's only granted where a lesser remedy (i.e. an adjournment to get the disclosure) would not suffice.

If you're considering bringing either of these charter motions I would suggest you contact a lawyer or paralegal.