Spoiler: our internal data shows that it’s hard (almost impossible) to have your stunt driving charges dropped if you go to court alone. Because it’s not so easy for a regular person who represents themselves in court to be persuasive enough with no experience in this area.
Sometimes it’s even difficult for a traffic lawyer to get the charges dropped completely. But chances increase significantly with a comprehensive, personalized defence strategy and deep knowledge of traffic, civil & sometimes criminal laws.
Anyways, let’s try to investigate together on this matter.
Main Reasons Why Your Stunt Driving Charges Might Be Dropped:
- Major mistakes in the police officer’s evidence or “disclosure”
- Procedural issues
- Unreasonable delay under Charter 11(b) – Constitutional Remedy for Traffic Violations
Major mistakes in the evidence and disclosure may include:
- deficiencies or errors that indicate the prospect of conviction is minimal;
- serious mistakes on summons;
- no availability of evidence;
- late provision of the evidence etc.
Such mistakes are more challenging to distinguish if you’re not an experienced traffic lawyer. Stunt driving lawyers know how to collect and sort out all the information and represent it properly to the prosecutor and court.
For example, they can prove the lack of evidence – this is one of the most successful stunt driving defences, by the way.
There are also minor mistakes in the summons that the police officer can make, such as incorrect name spelling, wrong licence plate number or date, no signature, incorrect address of the offence, etc. But such errors are not critical as they can be easily corrected and cannot be a reason to withdraw your charge.
If you try to find those major mistakes by yourself without having a legal background, and you’re wrong, most likely, you’ll lose at trial to the existing evidence.
Hence, the conviction of a stunt driving charge is unavoidable.
Procedural issues may include:
- inaccurate issuance of the summons by the police officer;
- inappropriate receipt of the summons;
- the incorrect procedure of filing the summons with the court etc.
When you’ve been charged with stunt driving charge in Ontario and received a summons to the court, the police officer must submit all the details related to your charge to the court (it’s called evidence or disclosure).
There is a strict process that the officer must follow. Otherwise, there is a chance that charges may be dropped.
So, the court is all about the processes and severe rules: sometimes, it’s very dull and complicated; sometimes – it requires deep knowledge of some legal aspects that can be acquired only with years of practice.
Experienced stunt driving lawyers know all the procedures and can check if something’s wrong. In contrast, a regular person cannot find such issues just by searching the internet or getting tricky advice from YouTube lawyers.
Unreasonable delay under Charter 11(b) – Constitutional Remedy for Traffic Violations
At first sight, it’s easy to operate with section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights when you have a reasonable delay in your hearing.
According to the Charter, anyone charged with a crime has a right to be heard within a reasonable time. And there is a chance that the fact that the person’s right to a speedy trial has been infringed can lead to stunt driving charge withdrawal.
Before COVID, the minimum threshold for “delay time” was about 13 months from the date of the incident or from the day the person applied for trial. Today that threshold is approximately 18-19 months before the court will consider an application.
But in reality, the process is complicated, requires a deep understanding of the application procedures, and involves a lot of parties.
Moreover, the application process is quite delicate, and in case of discrepancies, it can be not accepted by the court.
And every time when you’re thinking about fighting your stunt driving ticket alone, remember the consequences of the failure and the potential stunt driving lawyer cost that could help avoid these severe outcomes.
It might cost you a minimum $2,000, 1-year licence suspension, possible jail time (check if you can go to jail for stunt driving in Ontario) and severe insurance complications (insurance usually gets cancelled or doubled for the next 3 years). Also, you need to consider how long stunt driving stays on your record and impacts your future employment.
So, it’s better to rely on a knowledgeable Ontario stunt driving lawyer or paralegal to reduce the offence or get your stunt driving charges dropped. They understand your rights and can exercise them through the defence process ultimately.