The first day of court for criminal charges in Ontario

After an individual is charged with a prison offence, an individual is both launched by police unconditionally, launched by police with circumstances (an enterprise to a peace officer or officer in cost) or they’re taken for a bail listening to the place the individual is launched by the Court docket or held in custody.  After this has taken place, an accused individual is supplied a date in Court docket, sometimes often called a “first look” court docket date.

Some issues must occur earlier than your trial: disclosure, retaining a lawyer, conferences, and issues.

On this preliminary look there are a selection of occasions which might be anticipated to occur: First, the Crown is predicted to supply “disclosure” to the accused.  “Disclosure” is the proof  the Crown and police have of their possession that they intend to depend on to prosecute the case.  This assists the accused and the accused’s lawyer in higher understanding the case towards them in order that they make knowledgeable choices about find out how to proceed with the case.  Second, if the accused has retained a lawyer, that lawyer ought to attend to tell the Court docket that they’re now ready to go “on the file” as the person’s counsel.  If the individual doesn’t have a lawyer, they’re anticipated to  advise the Court docket of their intentions to take action, or whether they wish to represent themselves. 

Chill out, you may have time.  Don’t do something till yo have spoken to a lawyer.

Since all of those steps could be troublesome to attain on the primary look, most counsel will search to adjourn the matter to finish all these steps diligently and to acquire supplies (resembling job, reference, or docs letters) that will help in mitigating the sentence towards the person who needs to plead responsible.  In Ontario, an individual just isn’t anticipated to enter a plea of “not-guilty” on the primary look and is usually just isn’t requested to take action till that particular person is arraigned on the trial date.  It is extremely straightforward to alter a plea of not-guilty to responsible; the converse may be very troublesome.

You case shall be adjourned to a subsequent date.

After the Court docket addresses the matter, and assuming the individual doesn’t wish to plead responsible at this early stage, the case shall be adjourned for a number of weeks in order that the individual charged could: a) evaluation disclosure, or acquire disclosure on the subsequent event if not already supplied, b) retain and acquire recommendation from counsel, c) apply for Authorized Assist if essential, d) have their lawyer converse to the Crown Lawyer in regards to the case for the aim of decision or trial discussions, or, e) some other goal that the state of affairs could require.

To recap: except an individual intends to plead responsible instantly, the primary day of Court docket is an administrative look – it isn’t a trial date.  No proof is known as, no plea is entered, and there’s nothing to be overly involved about.   Though not strictly essential, acquiring authorized counsel previous to this look is a really prudent motion as they will help in all features described above and might be sure that your entire rights are protected and your questions answered.

Listed here are a listing of most of the “first look” Courts within the Better Toronto space:

60 Queen St. W., Outdated Metropolis Corridor, Toronto: Courtroom 111

444 Yonge St., School Park, Toronto: Courtroom 505

1911 Eglinton Avenue, Scarborough: Courtroom 407

1911 Eglinton Avenue, Scarborough (Youth Court docket): Courtroom 408

311 Jarvis Ave., Toronto (Youth Court docket): Courtroom 1

2201 Finch Ave. W., Etobicoke: Courtroom 202

2201 Finch Ave. W., Etobicoke: Courtroom 407