Criminal Law and Provincial Offences
About Dynamic Legal Solutions Service and Price Questions Questions about the Law Questions about Police Officers Ethical QuestionsDynamic Legal Solutions helps the general public find paralegals and lawyers to assist them with legal problems in the areas of Provincial Offences and Criminal Offences.
Are all practitioners recommended by Dynamic Legal Solutions lawyers?
Dynamic Legal Solutions recommends both paralegals and lawyers. Please visit the home page to choose a solution which meets your needs.
Would I be better to choose a Paralegal or a Lawyer?
This is a choice that you get to make. In some cases, the experience of a professional Traffic Court Agent can get you the results you require for a fraction of the cost of a lawyer working alone. In other cases you may want a lawyer (or the law may require it). The decision is yours.
No. At this time, Dynamic Legal solutions recommends paralegals and lawyers practicing exclusively in offence related matters.
I was charged in Quebec can you help us?
No. Because of the "Act Respecting the Barreau du Quebec" we are precluded from representing people within the Province of Quebec. We can however refer you to a criminal or traffic-offence lawyer.
Who writes the answers to the FAQs and other content which may be of a legal nature?
David Anber, a Criminal Lawyer, has supplied all information which may discuss legal information.
My ticket is only $160. Why would I pay that much, or more, for a lawyer or paralegal?
Virtually every lawyer or paralegal will charge $300-500 minimum for even a small traffic ticket. In such a case you would be paying double or triple the cost of the ticket to hire representation. When you hire a lawyer or paralegal, you are paying for advocacy against some of the hidden costs. They include: higher insurance rates, demerit points, licence suspensions, even sometimes jail. In Criminal Cases, good advocacy can also protect you from obtaining a criminal record.
Yes. We can refer you to lawyers with a great deal of trial experience in alcohol related driving offences.
Please note that since July, 2008, paralegals may no longer offer services in this area.
Where can I get representation?
Virtually anywhere in Ontario. If you have to go to the Ottawa Provincial Offences Court (at 100 Constellation Crescent), Toronto Provincial Offences Court, Brockville Provincial Offences Court, or any POA Court in the Province of Ontario, call one of the lawyers or paralegals listed on our site. They take Ottawa speeding tickets and Ottawa traffic tickets, Brockville speeding tickets and Brockville traffic tickets, Kingston speeding tickets and Kingston traffic tickets, Hawkesbury speeding tickets, L'Orignal speeding tickets, Cornwall speeding tickets, Toronto speeding tickets, and many more places. Remember they do all offences in these areas including careless driving, and criminal offences. They do criminal offences all over ontario, particularly in Toronto, Oshawa, Ottawa and Brockville.
What is the 4 digit number on the top left of my ticket?
It's called an icon and it identifies which court your case is in. For example 0460 is the Provincial Offences Court in Ottawa, 1860 is the Provincial Offences Court in Perth, 1960 is the Provincial Offences Court in Brockville, 3460 is the Provincial Offences Court in L'Orignal, 3760 is the Provincial Offences Court in Pembroke, 3960 is the Provincial Offences Court in Cornwall, Alexandria & Morrisburg, Keep in mind that the Provincial Offence Courts in Toronto are split up geographically. If you require any other assistance, please ask us.
The officer wrote the wrong year of my vehicle on the ticket. Will this get the ticket cancelled?
No. Most clerical errors are not fatal to the ticket and case-law has upheld this in many situations. There are certain specific situations where errors on the ticket could be fatal, but they must argued in the right way. For example even if the time on the ticket is considerably wrong, you can't say "see the time on the ticket you gave me is wrong". If you do that, you will have just told the Court that it was in fact you who received the ticket from the officer. The mistake will be corrected and you will be convicted. By the way, if the officer writes "07" for the year of your car and you're driving a 99 (for example) he's actually putting the year of your registration sticker so there isn't even a mistake.
The officer would not show me the reading on the radar gun. Can I contest on this ground?
No. Well you can, but you'd lose. A few things: First, there are safety concerns. A police officer cannot always let you out onto the highway (it's actually illegal) with speeding cars around. Also, he may have deleted the reading to calibrate the machine or for a variety of reasons. The bottom line is that it is not important whether the reading is still visible or not. Either way, the officer is going to testify that's the reading he had. Most winning cases accept that testimony and show that the reading was simply reflecting flawed data from an improperly used radar machine.
Recent case law from the highest Court in Ontario permits this but it can still be argued whether or not your case is an appropriate case for this.
No. The Police Department and/or city and/or province might be liable for civil damages from the owner of the property if they had asked the police not to work from their property and this request was ignored. But in most cases, it is not an issue and in fact some times the police will have even gotten permission from the property owner.
I want to learn more about speeding tickets, where do I look.
The internet is a great place to look. Try key phrases like: traffic tickets, speeding tickets, demerit points, lawyer, law, agent, errors, radar, laser, fine Ottawa, Toronto, Brockville, Cornwall, Kingston, Hamilton, L'Orignal, Pembroke, Perth etc.
Questions about Police Officers
Some police cars, particularly OPP or SQ cruisers have "moving radar" mounted in them. This allows the officer, while driving to measure the speed of the car in front of him, behind him and yes - even oncoming the other way. However, from our experience, discussing these cases with clients often reveal many "holes" in the case which makes such a charge harder to prove.
How should I react when a police officer pulls me over?
First and formost, try to make the officer's life easy. Pull over as far as you can off the busy highway (far to the right) which will make him feel safer. If you are on a city street pull into a side street, but always pull over promptly and never appear as though you are trying to escape. When he approaches the vehicle, have your hands on the steering wheel and have the radio down and your sunglasses off. Be polite but do not admit to anything. Say "yes sir", "no sir", "ok" or "I see" where appropriate. Be agreeable, but don't necessarily agree. Some people have recommended crying. From our experience, this does not have any effect for members of the male gender. In general, you want to be as un-memorable as possible. If you act like a jerk, the officer will remember the details of this stop more than the 50 others he made this week (plus he'll be even more eager to show up in Court to stick it to you). Finally, if you have anything that you strongly feel will form the basis of your case in Court. State it, but don't say too much. (i.e. "officer, I really think it is possible that you might have got the wrong car. I saw that other silver car speed by me just before you pulled me over." OR "I'm not sure if you noticed that I was scared for my life because a large 18-wheeler truck was 2 feet off my back bumper coming at me at 160 kms.") Only make such a statement if (a) it is realistic, (b) it is not longwinded and (c) you plan to rely on this story in Court.
No. Every day in Traffic Court this argument is made and every day these people are convicted. The Justice of the Peace will tell you to take your complaint to the Police Services board. Then he will convict you. This information can be useful to help undermine the officer's credibility, but it can only be used as part of a sophisticated Cross Examination on the officer. That's where we come in!
Why do paralegals or lawyers represent guilty people?
Any person who is charged with an offence - be it a speeding offence or murder - even if he/she really did it - should deserve the best possible defence before a conviction can be entered. Pleading not guilty to an offence which the person really did commit is not lying. He/she is simply exercising his/her constitutional rights.