OHTA.ca

Okay yes, big mistake.

Bought a car, put friends temp plates on, drove the car to a shop to get it worked on. Cop intercepts my little drive.

Tickets are as following:

Driving with a g1

Passenger in passenger seat with only g1 driver.

Plates not licensed for car.

Expired sticker

Didnt change address on license when moving

And my two biggest mess ups:

No insurance

failure to present proof of insurance.

Yep, I understand. 17 year old male, lives in the country. Made a very bad decision.

No criminal history, no prior tickets, and (As of yesterday, unemployed)

I have a summons for all 7 tickets (No set fines)

And I was just wondering two things.

1: How long is it from the summons to court date on average?

2: What can I do to help myself in court? I.E brownie points. Within reason, dress nice, haircut.

Can't exactly afford someone to defend me, but officer is putting in a good review.

Will getting a part time job help? Should I have someone come give me a good review about me? Or admit it should only be me up here as it's not anybody elses fault but mine. Thanks everyone, you have no idea how stressful this is.

Yes, I learned my lesson.

EDIT: I will also be getting my G2 license tomorrow. My G1 isn't suspended. Incase it helps, heh.

1) Court date is listed on the summons

2) Obtain insurance, proper plates, etc. to show your vehicle is now road legal, then talk with the Crown about a possible plea deal.

I know representation may seem expensive, but it may be worth borrowing money off parents, etc. as you can't afford to get convicted on everything.

Okay, my summons is in November.

Although, I do not have insurance. Nor a car anymore.

I don't even know of a company that will insure me for any practical price anymore, I suppose I could do some calling around.

And I suppose I could save up for legal representation, but if they see I can afford a lawyer, wouldn't they think I can afford to pay all my tickets too?

The problem is nobody is willing to up front some cash. I don't exactly come from a wealthy family, more of a lower middle class.

Your DL is not suspended yet. But after that list of charges it most likely will,

Here I have seen the prosecutors toss all but the no insurance in plea bargains That one comes with a 5k fine is the reason. Those are not usually fir G1 drivers. You breached a bunch of the most important G1 condition and that is why I suspect you are in for a dl Suspension.

Show lots of remorse and hope for the best.

ops

How long of a suspension could I expect?

That is sort of good news, I guess.

I'd surely rather take the rest of the charges instead of the no insurance, but I see the importance of the no insurance one.

Um, if you were charged with "Plates not authorized for the vehicle" that is an arrestable offence... and you could go to jail.

Not really sure you'd rather take the "rest of the charges" instead of the No Insurance one.

In any case, I'd seek some sort of legal advice for this.

tkoth wrote:wouldn't they think I can afford to pay all my tickets too?

Your perceived ability to pay tickets does not have any bearing on your guilt, nor will it affect how a JP rules on your case. However, the lawyer or paralegal would have a much better chance of pleading your case, and possibly finding issues that could see a few charges thrown out or withdrawn. (No promises obviously.)

Understandable.

What type of legal representation should I look into? I could get a criminal lawyer, paralegal, attorney, or traffic violation attorney? (I think the last two might be the same thing)

I am totally new to the whole legal stuff. What should I look into to help me out in this situation?

Definitely did not know I could do time for using my friends plates.

If it were me I would go with either a paralegal or an attorney that specializes in traffic law. Criminal lawyers don't spend much time in traffic court so they won't have a lot experience dealing with this kind of case. You can fill in the form at the bottom of this page if you want to be referred to a traffic ticket specialist through this site, or you can always do a Google search to find a firm you like. Also it is always a good idea to shop around a bit, feel free to talk to several different firms to see which one will best suit your needs.

Okay, so I have thought about a few things.

I am going to court without any extra help. I have no money to afford a paralegal. I figured that if I borrowed money to afford a paralegal the judge will think I have money for a paralegal I can pay the $6000 ish fines I will be presented with.

I am under 17 and have literally no money to my name. How will they make me pay the fines? Would there be any chance in community service substituion?

I'm hoping for the actual date of court to be really far away so I could request an 11b.

But, I'm worried the penalties might be more severe if I'm over 18 by the time my court comes around

(I'll be 18 this coming March of next year)

TL:DR What would be honestly my best bet without a paralegal? And what help is it if my court date is while I'm under 18?

Thanks guys, the stress over this is killing me, and it's starting to mess with me mentally

Two things I didn't mention, I doubt they'd have any effect though.

1. I was caught, actually caught on private property. They had followed me through streets, and when I was on school property, 7 minutes later they pulled up to us in the car, while parked, in a spot, although we still had our seatbelts on, just listening to music. (We didn't know the police were coming)

I mean, I could just randomly say someone got IN the car with me, into the passenger seat, the cops only went by what they saw while we were parked.

Not saying I will, but whatever.

2. Just throwing this out here, would there be any point in mentioning that I couldn't get insured because I only had my G1? I had inquired about insurance, but they said I couldn't with a G1.

Because your only a G1 driver and just starting out your life long driving career, I would highly recommend a good Paralegal to represent you. You made a mistake, stuff happens, hopefully lesson learned.

Try calling some traffic ticket companies up, explain your situation, your age etc, and they might even want to help you out for less money. Talk to some and see what they say they can do for you.

Going to court alone for what your facing is not a good idea.

Tkoth wrote:I figured that if I borrowed money to afford a paralegal the judge will think I have money for a paralegal I can pay the $6000 ish fines I will be presented with.

It does not matter what your fines are and what your Paralegal costs are to a Judge. A good Paralegal should be able to handle this to get some reductions atleast. Your fines might/can also get lowered.

Tkoth wrote:I figured that if I borrowed money to afford a paralegal the judge will think I have money for a paralegal I can pay the $6000 ish fines I will be presented with.

Agree with admin.

One guy was charged with Drive No Insurance. He hired a paralegal, who pled guilty on his behalf. He explained that the man had just divorced his wife, moved out of his house, and was retired and living on a fixed income, and had sold his car and would not drive again. The JP lowered the fine to $200 and suspended the sentence. The JP did not say "well, he could afford you, so he could afford $5000 in fines." He simply listened to the paralegal's submission and that was that.

Again, as I said earlier, the presence of any sort of paralegal or lawyer does NOT change how they decide innocence or guilt. It also does not affect the sentence, although your personal circumstances do. Nonetheless, I've never seen a single case where a JP or Justice said "well the defendant could afford legal assistance so I'm going to jack the fine up" (or words to that effect). Maybe it has happened but it would be appealed and quashed.

Ya thats for sure, the fine has nothing to do with anything and will not influence your verdict.

Also, why take the headache to do this on your own? Get rid of the stress of it all, move on, play some xbox

And also, its not a "Judge" at trials per se, but they are actually called a "Justice of Peace". And you want to address him/her not as "Your Honor" or "Judge", but as "Your Worship".

Okay thanks guys, that helped a lot!

So I guess working on getting a paralegal is my most important plan now.

I just figured it would be pointless to hire one, I didn't think you could use guilty with explanation for no insurance, as you either did it, or you didnt.

Everybody keeps saying I will get over it, even the officers that dealt with me said so, but as far as I know that kind of debt and insurance rates would really mess up

some of the most important years of my life (College, work)

Apparently insurance companies consider DUIs and no insurance charges the same, great -_-

So yep, paralegal it is.