OHTA.ca

I am dealing with a Careless Driving charge and am trying to understand the sequence of events leading up to a trial. My understanding of the basic process is the following:

1. Within 15 days of getting the Offence Notice I have to go to the court office and select Option 3 to fill out paperwork to indicate I want a trial.

2. I then wait for notice of a trial date to come in the mail.

3. Once I know the trial date, I send a request to the Prosecutor asking for Disclosure.

4. I then attend the trial.

What I am not sure of is at what point in this process that I request an initial meeting with the prosecutor to discuss plea options. I believe I can do it at any time, but it seems that it would make more sense to do so after receiving disclosure and knowing exactly what the case is against me. Knowing this information would let me know how strong the case is and what bargaining power I would have in discussing pleading to a lessor charge. However, hearing about people not getting disclosure or getting it just before the trial date makes me think that this would be too long to wait.

I realize that this is a question with no simple answer but I am interested in knowing when the first meeting is usually requested and any pros and cons of waiting for disclosure before having the meeting.

Also, is it better to request disclosure immediately or to wait for the trial date? I am assuming that waiting for the notice of trial will leave a reasonable amount of lead time for the prosecutor to respond to my request (i.e. my trial notice won't announce that my trial date is the following week).

You could certainly request a meeting right away and see what the Crown is willing to offer. You're under no obligation to accept the deal at that time, and can just politely advise the Crown you'll make your final decision once you've reviewed disclosure.