“Trial Vs. Early Meeting”

It happened Tuesday night, 10pm. Exiting parking lot at Yorkdale mall I did not check my left, did not notice a police cruiser coming and ended up with $490 careless driving ticket. Last 3 days I was in stage "what Ive done". Now I am – "what to do?"

I did a lot of reading here and learned that it is a major offence and I have to fight to have it reduced.

I still have some questions:

1. What is the advantage to go directly to trial? Is not it better to go with option 2, meet the prosecutor and accept reduced charges, if any offered?

2. Can I still request a trial after meeting with the prosecution? If I am not happy with the offer?

3. Do I need a paralegal assistance at the meeting with prosecuting attorney?

4. Do I need to request a disclosure for the meeting?

5. How does the prosecutor know about my actual violation derails, if ticket only says: "Careless Driving"? How to bargain the reduction?

Thanks a lot in advance to all….

any advice? please!

yanna wrote:any advice? please!

Request a trial. If you request a trial, all your options remain open. You can plead guilty, you can still come to an early resolution, or you can have a trial. A lot of people think that if they request a trial, they'll immediately be put on the stand and duke it out. It isn't the case. 99% of people who request a trial show up to court and leave with a reduced conviction in exchange for admission of guilt. 30 people will have the same trial time as you and practically everyone will leave without a trial. They don't want trials. It ruins their lunch schedule.

That being said, Careless Driving is probably a charge where you'd consider a paralegal. You will want to make this decision as soon as possible. You didn't get into too many details about your ticket. I'm assuming their was no accident, right? If so, it may be reduced to something like "turn not in safety", which would be a huge improvement over careless driving.

bend wrote:

yanna wrote:any advice? please!

Request a trial. If you request a trial, all your options remain open. You can plead guilty, you can still come to an early resolution, or you can have a trial. A lot of people think that if they request a trial, they'll immediately be put on the stand and duke it out. It isn't the case. 99% of people who request a trial show up to court and leave with a reduced conviction in exchange for admission of guilt. 30 people will have the same trial time as you and practically everyone will leave without a trial. They don't want trials. It ruins their lunch schedule.

That being said, Careless Driving is probably a charge where you'd consider a paralegal. You will want to make this decision as soon as possible. You didn't get into too many details about your ticket. I'm assuming their was no accident, right? If so, it may be reduced to something like "turn not in safety", which would be a huge improvement over careless driving.

Bend thanks a lot!

No there was no accident. I crossed the road in front of incoming police cruiser.

My only concern is long waiting period before the trial, I cant relax. And I cant even imagine waiting for the resolution for 6-8 month!!!

Thats why I was thinking to go to early meeting, meet the prosecutor and settle the case as soon as possible…. Is not the meeting less stressful then to go to court with 30 other people?

is it a bad idea? thanks!!!

last questions:

(1) Is it possible that charge reduction offer at the early resolution meeting to be different from the one just before the trial?

(2) the prosecutor you meet at the early meeting is usually the same person youll see at the trial?

thnaks a lot in advance!

1. Maybe, not necessarily.

2. Not always...

Is not the meeting less stressful then to go to court with 30 other people?

is it a bad idea? thanks!!

You and the other 30 or more people sign in and you all wait for your name to be called. Most likely there are two desks in the room and two of you go in at one and speak to a different assistants. It is not a stressful as you think. I recently had a careless charge withdrawn. You will have a reduced charge or even the charge withdrawn. I was prepared had photos of the intersection and was clear in how and what happened. Don't stress overly... I know I did and it all worked out.