Right to a fair trial - My ticket goes to court 1 year and 3 weeks

[MAZDA Kitten]

Got booked doing 136 on July 1st (yea yea I know long weekend) LOL - anyways. I *finally* get the letter yesterday showing my court date for end of July. Isn't there a stipulation somewhere that indicates 'right to a fair trial' or something like that within ONE YEAR of the incident date.
I hired someone to fight it for me and I even remember asking him how soon would he expect to get a court date and he said that they are ensuring that people are waiting as long so expect to go to court sometime in December. Well. Its December and I only got the letter saying I have to wait 8 more months for a trial. Crazy. :loco

On a side note... wow. Peel cops must've been busy this summer. Our courts so backed up.

[Skarbro]

LOL just about everyone who gets a trial date thinks of this. It's pointless to go there. I'm sure Weasel can elaborate...

[MAZDA Kitten]

ok sorry just asking
so its a myth?

[Cardinal Fang]

I really think it is. It would be nice if you could get a trial within one year of your ticket but as you've noted the courts are backed up with everyone fighting tickets, charges, by-laws etc. I've heard people talk about their rights being violated because they haven't gotten a speedy trial. These people have been watching too much American T.V.

Just wait it out. You'll be fine. Do you need any of us there as character witnesses? Most of us clean up quite well. Well....maybe not Broli.

[Wild Weasel]

Well... yes and no. Yes, you have a constitutional right to a trial in a timely manner... but as the courts get more and more backed up, they simply redefine what constitues a timely manner.

I tried this defense and the judge just gave me a lengthy spiel about how this right is meant for those facing serious criminal charges and that my life shouldn't be all that negatively impacted by a pending speeding charge, therefore she didn't allow the defense.

It's worth a shot I suppose, if you can get a more sympathetic judge. It's a valid defense if they allow it to be.

Just make sure you get all the proper paperwork filled out prior to trial and get it stamped by all the right offices.

Judge seemed impressed by my due diligence before shooting it down. :chuckle

[RedRaptor]

Its not a myth. I know a guy who has gotten off of two tickets with this same law.

[Xerox]

I think it's 50-50. It depends how you "play" it (for a lack of better word).

My sister (who’s now a criminal lawyer) got booked for speeding and following too close (she’s not an aggressive driver; she was just way late one day). She has a friend who’s more versed in traffic laws so he took on her case (probono). He had requested some information/documentation from the Police (ie. maintenance logs for radar detector, etc.) The offices of the Police were unable to provide the requested information in time for the trial so the trial date had to be re-scheduled about 2 times. On the 3rd trial date, the requested information was still unavailable so the prosecutor asked for another extension. My sister’s attorney basically said:
“This is outrageous!" Slams fist on table.
"I demand we continue now!”

All charges were dropped.
True story.

[MAZDA Kitten]

Wow

Well I have someone fighting it for me
He got my bf 15 over when he got booked doing 149 and a lot of friends used him as well so I am hoping he's good to me too :)

[SP33D 3]

my first speeding ticket i tried to defend myself in that way, the judge was ready to drop the charge but the prosecuter made a huge deal about me not putting a date on the top of the form that's supposed to be handed in, so the judge apologized to me saying he couldn't accept it so i ended up losing and got full points which lasted about 3 months since the offence date was almost 2 years before

[Xerox]

i ended up losing and got full points which lasted about 3 months since the offence date was almost 2 years before

That's an interesting point. Demerit points remain on record for 2 years from date the infraction was issued. So if your trial is processed 1.5 years later and you lose, it's on your record for only half a year (?). But I think insurance companies keep it in there records longer?

[3GFX]

I got off a ticket because it took 13 months to court date.

Give it a shot, worked for me (I used 'Ontario Traffic Tickets')

[SP33D 3]

yea insurance keeps it for 3 years

[MAZDA Kitten]

^^^ from the date of the infraction?

[Wild Weasel]

No, from the date of conviction.

[Xerox]

I got all excited there for a minute. I couldn't find any official documentation from a MTO website but one website says "date the ticket is received" and another says from "date of conviction" (both from traffic fighting service website). I would expect the latter to be true otherwise it's a major oversight.

[Skarbro]

As someone who pours over Motor Vehicle Records everyday I can assure you that every conviction and points stays on your MVR for 3 years from the date of conviction, not the date of infraction. It doesn't make sense for it to be 3 years from the infraction because the amount of time from infraction to conviction is always different for everyone and it doesn't appear on your MVR until you are actually convicted.

[Skarbro]

That's an interesting point. Demerit points remain on record for 2 years from date the infraction was issued. So if your trial is processed 1.5 years later and you lose, it's on your record for only half a year (?). But I think insurance companies keep it in there records longer?
It's a misconception that insurance companies use demerit points for rating. I do not know of any insurance company that uses them. They go straight for the actual convictions, which stay on for 3 years as mentioned in my prev post.

[Wild Weasel]

Yeah, demerit points only determine when you lose your license or have to see a judge or whatever. They've got nothing to do with insurance.

Insurance treats all minor convictions the same, so if you've got a ticket for 20 over the limit, and the prosecutor offers to lower it to 15 over to save you points, all you've really saved yourself is a few bucks on the ticket. Insurance is still going to punish you.

This only has value if you've been racking up points and are at risk of losing your license.

[SP33D 3]

at the top of this mto site it says offence date, not conviction.... "Demerit points stay on your record for two years from the offence date."


http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/demerit.htm


also the ticket i had received 2 years ago for going 92 in a 60 in sept 2005, (steeles ave just west of keele) i wasn't the fastest car on the road at the time, the 4 points have been taken off my record last time i checked it

[Skarbro]

at the top of this mto site it says offence date, not conviction.... "Demerit points stay on your record for two years from the offence date."


http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/demerit.htm


also the ticket i had received 2 years ago for going 92 in a 60 in sept 2005, (steeles ave just west of keele) i wasn't the fastest car on the road at the time, the 4 points have been taken off my record last time i checked it
True for demerit points - but they have different rules for the actual conviction as mentioned above.

[stevenlung]

its CONVICTION date, it'll keep in record for 3 whole damn years starting from the conviction date, because the ticket won't show on your record before the conviction, it'll only show on MTO record after you lose the case, and YES, it'll affect your insurance for 3 whole years, maybe it won't if you're lucky

[SP33D 3]

so it stays on the record, eventhough the points are off already? so is there not influence on the license after that except with insurance?

[bluntman]

Of couse. Removing it from the record will mean that it never happened. However, any offense that occurred after three years is not part of the public record which is the reason why they are not printed out on a Driver's Abstract.

[stevenlung]

so it stays on the record, eventhough the points are off already? so is there not influence on the license after that except with insurance?

it won't affect your license cuz it's not going to be suspended for just a couple points (4pts you said?), for insurance, you'll see the influence on your next renewal

[rbart4506]

it won't affect your license cuz it's not going to be suspended for just a couple points (4pts you said?), for insurance, you'll see the influence on your next renewal

You may see an increase on your next renewal...I've had my share of tickets in my year's of driving and not once has it affected my insurance rates. I've either been exceptionally lucky or insurance companies do not check your abstract with every renewal.

[GGM3]

It costs the insurance co. money to check your record, so unless you are a "high risk" group your record may not get check every year. Plus some insuance co.'s give you a "freebie" on your first minor conviction.