OHTA.ca

I have a trial for failing to stop at a stop sign. I want to dispute because I don't want my insurance to go up if convicted. How do I know if the officer has showed up? Can the prosecutor refuse to tell me?

The officer, wearing a body camera, recorded me saying I didn't see the stop sign because of the way a truck was parked and I asked him to check out my view of the stop sign. Does he have any responsibility to prove that the truck was parked correctly? I did not take pictures.

It's not his job to make your defence for you. You didn't stop so he issued a ticket. If there's a reason you didn't stop then that is your responsibility to gather and present evidence to that.

Not stopping is an absolute liability offence which means, unless your life was in danger, you will most likely be found guilty whether you saw the sign or not. The officer has no responsibility to check out what you saw. If you took pictures of the truck immediately after getting the ticket, it might help your case, but without pictures your story probably will not help you.

At trial, some prosecutors are very nice and will tell you whether the officer showed up or not, whereas other prosecutors will not tell you (and they do not have to tell you).

You should plead Not Guilty and request a Trial and when you get the Notice of Trial with the trial date, then you can request disclosure (copy of officers notes). Once you get the notes, post them here and we can advise further.