OHTA.ca

I'm a new poster. Here is the status; your opinions are appreiated.

Full time prohibited Right turn Yonge (s/b) and Belmont; Feb 6, 2009

first appearance Oct 30 2009- adjourned to Jan 8, 2010-Crown acknowledged had not provided disclosure and had request in hand.

Site: observed that both signs are on the right side of yonge and can be obscure by a large truck- photographed same. Officer's vantagepoint affords no view north of intersection. photographed same. His view of intersection can be obscured by large truck stopped e/b on belmont. photographed. Prohibited tight turn sign is a "glyph" and bi-lingual but is modified by an attached sign "bicycles excepted" in english only.

Ticket: misdescribes car as a " Hon" rather than Toyota. other details correct. Is thsi fatal?

As of posting no disclosure. Filed an 11b motion because of falilure to disclose and 11 month delay. (I now realize crown was very cadgey in "no objection to adjournment" forcing me to reuest adjournment. I now realize I should have insisted he request it because of delay.) Can this be ruled on by the JP? at the trial, wrt why the adjournment and attribution for delay?. Opinion on 11 mo delay?

I will attempt the Bi-lingual defence because of english only modification to sign. Opinion on success?

Finally; should I parade these defences before the Crown prior to trial in an attempt to persuade him to withdraw charges or bring them up at trial to prevent any modifications? Opinion; what to disclose to Crown and what to keep for trial. Thanks

I am posting information about the successfull outcome of the trial.

I believe I was as prepared as I could be; An 11b motion baised on delay, (disclosure was never provided either). The bi-lingual defence and various "site" defences, potentially obscured signs etc. In the end no amount of preparation can answer or anticipate all the possibiities. The reason the charge was withdrawn was the the officer did not show! Perhaps he was embarrassed that he did not comply with the disclosure request or the crown delayed so aggregiously that he was instructed to stay away.

Two lessons were learned: one, prepare for the worst and when the simplest remedy occurrs embrace it. Don't be disappointed that you never got to "test" all your defences. and two; There is a great deal more to preparing an 11b defence motion of which I was not aware or that I could easily find on the web.

After subsequently speaking with a lawyer friend of mine I realized that the 11b motion that I filed was "thin"ie lacking the necessary detail that a competant motion requires, Transcript of the previous hearings, the applicant's affidavit with copies of all correspondence in relation to the delay or non disclosure attested to and a listing of all the above outlining anxiety, expense, etc. that the delay has created; a list of authorities including copies of Stinchcombe, copies of the Act it self with specific citations of the 11b provision other sections and any other statute on which your motion relies.

A well prepared 11b will require the crown to appoint a "special prosecutor" to the traffic court to properly address the motion since a crown without lawyer status will probaby not have the experience or sophistocation to handle it. Will you as a non lawyer be able to bring all the legal nuances to bear during arguments? The motion is very much a strong bargaining tool in view of the protracted arguments that will attach to complete exploration of the motion before the Court. You can use it as a bargaining chip to reduce the charge.

And be sure to evaluate the sitting JP. Not all JP's have the legal training to appreciate the 11b motion, some rightly or wrongly just refuse to deal with it and will dismiss it no matter how valid your arguments. This would leave you with only one option, appeal, a "messy", lengthly and expensive option following conviction.

In court nothing is a given but in my case the result was the best it could be.

stargezer wrote:. The reason the charge was withdrawn was the the officer did not show! Perhaps he was embarrassed that he did not comply with the disclosure request or the crown delayed so aggregiously that he was instructed to stay away.

If it is like most of us, court is scheduled on our working day for fiscal responsibility and not paying OT. One can not predict when calls for service come in that require multiple officers (snow storms with multiple collisions, domestic, assault with weapons, etc..). I have been sitting in court and been called to the road to respond to a call. The officer could just be sick.