A discharge is the most lenient sentence a judge can give an adult offender. What is particularly attractive about it is that it is not considered a criminal record. A “Criminal record” is not defined anywhere and lots of situations leave records. For example, your...
COVID-19 and the Ontario Court of Justice and Superior Court of Justice Criminal courts in Ontario are delaying all appearances in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19 (a.k.a. “coronavirus”). How your case will proceed during this period will depend on what...
What are the expected outcomes? The worst-case scenario is being found guilty — the presumed minimum fine is $2,505.00 (after various costs are added), and it can go as high as $12,505.00. You can also potentially receive a jail sentence (but for various reasons of...
This question comes to me from overseas this week. A client of mine is under investigation for a crime and is currently overseas. The police will likely charge him and he will need to return to Canada to obtain his Court date. He asked me for advice on what type of...
I was involved in a fender bender, where I hit another car at a stop light. I was on my way to the airport and couldn’t stay so I told the person I had to go and would contact them. Is it a criminal offence to leave this type of accident? This question is one that we...
It’s very difficult to do, and is almost always proven through circumstantial evidence, as opposed to direct evidence. Direct evidence is evidence which, if believed, proves the fact in question 100%. For example, if the officer says “Yes, I racially profiled the...
