OHTA.ca

Hello,

I was at the court, the prosecutor didn't read the charges. Then raised a 11b motion. Trail was adjourned due to lack of Court transcript from previous court session to raise 11b. (I'll write the whole story soon).

My question, is it a fatal error if the prosecutor didn't read the charges? I did question the prosecutor why she didn't read the charges (she didn't still). . The session was adjourned to a later date.

Now I came to think about it, do I have an argument that there was a fatal error in the court? Should I get the transcript (expensive) and argue about this issue in the next court session?

Thanks,

Mike

The prosecutor doesn't read the charges out in court. The Court Clerk or sometimes the JP does this. It's not usually done until just before the accused enters a plea of guilty or not guilty. In your case you're attempting to do neither.

Exactly that. It's the prosecutor's job to provide evidence of guilt. Reading the charge is a part of the court process and therefore the job of the court.

Hi mike3000

The only time the charges are read, is when you are called up and they are about to ask you how you plead. So at any other stage before this, nobody needs to read the charges, so this is not any kind of fatal error. When it is time for your trial to actually start, they will call you up to the front, ask you to state your name, ask you to stand, and then the Clerk (not the prosecutor) will read the charges something "You have been charged with speeding 60 in 50 contrary to Highway Traffic Act on January 1, 2017 at 1:00pm in the City of Toronto. How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?" There me other times you show up and are called up to the front to deal with disclosure issues and 11b issues, but the trial has not actually started yet, so they do not need to read the charges yet.

Thank you all for your response.