Got court notice mid-August for an appearance end of Sept??

[Deleted member 40275]

I got a court date notice (end of August) for a court date in near the end of September next month for speeding. What are my options here? I would like to delay trial if possible and/or ask for disclosure. Do I have a leg to stand on in terms of not having enough time to prepare etc? When should I request disclosure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[chiefswallow]

Request disclosure tomorrow. Keep the fax receipt. Do NOT put your phone number or e-mail address on the disclosure request. If you don't have it 2 weeks before your court date, send it again. If you haven't received it by your trial then bring the fax receipts for the disclosure request (and the disclosure request) to your trial and they might dismiss the case or adjourn it without prejudice to give you time to receive disclosure/prepare a defense.

If the crown hands you your disclosure at trial the judge will tell you that you should proceed with trial. Tell him that you need time to prepare your defense having just received your disclosure an hour earlier and would like an adjournment without prejudice.

 

[Deleted member 40275]

Request disclosure tomorrow. Keep the fax receipt. Do NOT put your phone number or e-mail address on the disclosure request. If you don't have it 2 weeks before your court date, send it again. If you haven't received it by your trial then bring the fax receipts for the disclosure request (and the disclosure request) to your trial and they might dismiss the case or adjourn it without prejudice to give you time to receive disclosure/prepare a defense.

If the crown hands you your disclosure at trial the judge will tell you that you should proceed with trial. Tell him that you need time to prepare your defense having just received your disclosure an hour earlier and would like an adjournment without prejudice.

Thank you! This is exactly the advice I needed. I thought that you must go in to the court-house to request disclosure.. didn't know it was possible to fax in my request. Thank you again!

 

[chiefswallow]

Thank you! This is exactly the advice I needed. I thought that you must go in to the court-house to request disclosure.. didn't know it was possible to fax in my request. Thank you again!

They hide the fax number and pretend that you can't, just google the courthouse address and you'll get the fax number

And remember what I said about the no phone numbers or e-mail addresses, you'll thank me later

 

[Deleted member 40275]

Pretty Major update here on this matter.

So I was looking over at the Notice of Trial and I see at the bottom they have my Plate Number WRONG. Where it should be a "Y" they have put a "4"

The plate number is scribbled on the actual ticket and looks halfway between a 4 and a Y. I just requested disclosure this morning and found this error as soon as I sent it in.

Does this change anything?

 

[vociferous]

probably not. a 4 and a Y can look very similar depending on the persons handwriting.

it will not get you off

 

[maxgohan]

maybe you can question the officer @ trial and ask him to describe what he saw, then ask him what color motorcycle and what the plate number was
if he says 'y' then maybe you can bring forth evidence that you dont own such a motorcycle

lol, maybe i've watched too many law dramas

 

[Rob MacLennan]

maybe you can question the officer @ trial and ask him to describe what he saw, then ask him what color motorcycle and what the plate number was
if he says 'y' then maybe you can bring forth evidence that you dont own such a motorcycle

lol, maybe i've watched too many law dramas

Yeah, trying the 'Perry Mason' thing rarely makes friends in traffic court. In fact it frequently results in a big jackbooted legal foot landing on you.

 

[Deleted member 40275]

So best practice is to follow through with disclosure etc?

Is it even worth bringing up in court? Should I use that as one of my arguments? I can argue that the ticket states 4 instead of Y as does the notice of trial... but back it up with lack of disclosure etc. when the time comes? Or should I just argue disclosure and then show up for the next date and if the officer is there.. use the 4 to Y thing as a last ditch effort?

 

[Rob MacLennan]

So best practice is to follow through with disclosure etc?

Is it even worth bringing up in court? Should I use that as one of my arguments? I can argue that the ticket states 4 instead of Y as does the notice of trial... but back it up with lack of disclosure etc. when the time comes? Or should I just argue disclosure and then show up for the next date and if the officer is there.. use the 4 to Y thing as a last ditch effort?

The plate number will be considered correctable error.

You - The plate number reported is not mine.
JP - Is that your driver's license number on the infraction notice?
You - Yes.
JP - Plate number amended to reflect the actual plate.

It pays to have multiple strategies, but to also avoid the ones that simply annoy the JP.

 

[MarcosSantiago]

So best practice is to follow through with disclosure etc?

Is it even worth bringing up in court? Should I use that as one of my arguments? I can argue that the ticket states 4 instead of Y as does the notice of trial... but back it up with lack of disclosure etc. when the time comes? Or should I just argue disclosure and then show up for the next date and if the officer is there.. use the 4 to Y thing as a last ditch effort?

One question: You have not posted when you got the ticket in the first place.

EXAMPLE: If you decided to fight the ticket, and requested a court date in (let's say for the sake of example) Novemeber 2012, but didn't bother asking for disclosure until the last minute (August 2013), it is not going to help you much... they will simply reschedule your ticket to a later date, and most likely the delay will be attributed to you, so the option to file an 11b is pretty much gone...

About the plate mistake (one single digit)... forget about it, it is not a fatal error.