Inquiry: The 21 of junary I was convinced in Ontario court of justice of the offence of stunt driving. I was controlled by the police 50 km/h over the speed limit of 80 km/h with a car I rented for a week end. I was sentenced to pay a fine of 2000 $ + 500 $ of charge before the 21 of April. During the court I plaided guilty and tried to reduce the fine arguing that I hadn’t known the car and the environment in Canada, so even I had known that I had been going over the speed limit, I hadn’t felt that I had been going so fast. But the judge didn’t consider my arguments and did not reduce the fine.
Do you think that it’s worth to appeal against the judgement to try to reduce the fine? If yes, what is the best way to do that? Do I have to hire a lawyer to have more chance? Are you interested in working on this case and if yes what are your conditions?
Response: This is an unfortunate and relatively common problem that we see where a Defendant has opted to represent themselves before the court against a serious charge without having sought out legal advice in advance. Once a conviction has occurred, the legal costs of trying to address the conviction are generally greater than having sought out legal representation in the first place, and there is always the possibility that the ruling of the court may not change despite trying to address it after the fact.
Hiring a licenced lawyer or paralegal will generally provide a greater probability of a more favorable resolution at court whether dealing with a charge directly or dealing with an appeal. We would however need to know more information than you have provided here to give you more feedback. If you would like to speak with one of our staff, we offer a no-cost initial review of cases via our toll-free number 1-866-801-8299.