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Hi!

Need some advice. Know I am in big trouble here and am looking for some helpful advice.

I travel constantly for work and will lose my job if my licence gets suspended for 6 months.

Got stopped by the police after they ran my plate and it came up as the registered owner had a suspended licence. No other tickets were issued, but I got a summons to court. This was end of February. Fine was unpaid as I gave the money to my ex-fiance to pay while I was out of town. She used the money to pay another bill and didn't tell me. (She is willing to testify to this in court). She also informed me at the same time that she did the same thing with the money I gave her for my insurance. I was between jobs at the time of the offence (waiting for a severance package to pay everything of and get legit again).

However, a medical emergency for a family member required me to drive him to his health care provider. Once again, got stopped by the police after just running the plate. Officer stopped me and issued me a second driving while suspended and a drive with no insurance. I know I was in the wrong and admitted as much to the prosecutor. She was willing to drop the first offence to drive with no licence, but quote unquote "how do I make an example out of you if I reduce the second one". The officer made no note in his file that there were medical reasons for me driving. I know its not much of a defense but it is the only one I have.

I am a well employed professional who made the mistake of trusting the wrong person. I am capable of and willing to pay the fines provided I don't lose my job from the suspension that might occur. Take my licence (and thus my job) and I can't pay any of the fines). Since I am fighting the second charge, the prosecutor has pulled the offer for the first charge off the table). I have no choice but to fight, can anyone offer other cases similar to mine as precident or offer some other advice? Can I request a different procecutor? Don't know why but this one seems to have it out for me. While waiting to talk with the prosecutor, I was chatting with other people who were waiting. I saw others get a second charge reduced with no hassel.

My lawyer hasn't been much help (wouldn't take a sworn affidavit from either my ex-fiance or my ex-brother-in-law, nor did he try to get clarification from the charging officer, etc) and seems more interested in just collecting my money. Trial is in just over a month for the offences. Don't know if I should drop him and find another.

Do I just go through with the trial and beg the judge for leniency hoping the judge doesn't go along with the procecutors recommendation?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

culturedfarmboy wrote:Hi!

Need some advice. Know I am in big trouble here and am looking for some helpful advice.

I travel constantly for work and will lose my job if my licence gets suspended for 6 months.

Got stopped by the police after they ran my plate and it came up as the registered owner had a suspended licence. No other tickets were issued, but I got a summons to court. This was end of February. Fine was unpaid as I gave the money to my ex-fiance to pay while I was out of town. She used the money to pay another bill and didn't tell me. (She is willing to testify to this in court). She also informed me at the same time that she did the same thing with the money I gave her for my insurance. I was between jobs at the time of the offence (waiting for a severance package to pay everything of and get legit again).

However, a medical emergency for a family member required me to drive him to his health care provider. Once again, got stopped by the police after just running the plate. Officer stopped me and issued me a second driving while suspended and a drive with no insurance. I know I was in the wrong and admitted as much to the prosecutor. She was willing to drop the first offence to drive with no licence, but quote unquote "how do I make an example out of you if I reduce the second one". The officer made no note in his file that there were medical reasons for me driving. I know its not much of a defense but it is the only one I have.

I am a well employed professional who made the mistake of trusting the wrong person. I am capable of and willing to pay the fines provided I don't lose my job from the suspension that might occur. Take my licence (and thus my job) and I can't pay any of the fines). Since I am fighting the second charge, the prosecutor has pulled the offer for the first charge off the table). I have no choice but to fight, can anyone offer other cases similar to mine as precident or offer some other advice? Can I request a different procecutor? Don't know why but this one seems to have it out for me. While waiting to talk with the prosecutor, I was chatting with other people who were waiting. I saw others get a second charge reduced with no hassel.

My lawyer hasn't been much help (wouldn't take a sworn affidavit from either my ex-fiance or my ex-brother-in-law, nor did he try to get clarification from the charging officer, etc) and seems more interested in just collecting my money. Trial is in just over a month for the offences. Don't know if I should drop him and find another.

Do I just go through with the trial and beg the judge for leniency hoping the judge doesn't go along with the procecutors recommendation?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I would get a different lawyer.

Cheers

Viper1

Showing that you reasonably believed your fines were paid and were unaware of your suspension may be a defence for the first offence. The second offence is problematic since you were then clearly aware of your suspension but decided to drive anyways. The fact that you were driving a family member to medical appointment will be irrelevant in Court. You would have to demonstrate that there was a truly life threatening emergency and that no other options (i.e. 9-1-1, ambulance) were available.

The Justice of the Peace may be able to offer some leniency regarding fines if warranted, but the suspension is mandated by law and can't be waived.

And stop driving until your licence is reinstated

Agree with viper1: Get a different lawyer.

For the first offence, you might be okay. For the second, the trip to the hospital would've had to have been a life-threatening emergency, as Stanton indicates. If you live in a very rural area where an ambulance would take 30+ minutes to get to you, and the victim needed emergency treatment, that's a valid defence. If you live in a city or a decent-sized town, that's likely not going to work, unless you called for an ambulance and they told you it would be a considerable wait. You'd have to get some sort of proof from the doctor/hospital of how serious the emergency was.