Stunt Driving Ontario – My Zoom Court Date

Here’s what you can expect when you go to court for the first time for your Stunt Driving charge in Ontario.

1. Your court date will be online with Zoom

• When you get charged with Stunt Driving, the Police officer gives you a summons.
• On that summons, you’ll see that your appearance is required at a court on a specific date and time.
• What’s new in 2022 is that your court date will be online via Zoom. 
• In some courts in Ontario, it is possible your court appearance will be by phone.
• The connection details for your court date should have been given to you by the Police officer or a letter from the court.
• If you do not have the connection details, then you should contact the court office, and they will give you the information on how to connect.

2.  You have to attend

• Your appearance in court, either on video or by phone, is not optional. It is mandatory by law.

• You have to attend.

• If you don’t attend, you may be subject to further charges as you are not present to defend or address your charges.
• And the court, without you knowing, will set a future court date for you. And you will not get notification of this date.
• In the event that you miss your court date, you should contact the court to find out what happened and when your next court date is.

3.  This court date is not a trial

• Your first court date for your Stunt Driving is not a trial date.
• This court date is called a “first appearance”, because it is the first time you appear before the court for your charges.
• The main purpose of this court date is for your charge to legally be transferred into the court’s jurisdiction.

• And for you to get the evidence.
• Finally, because this court date is not a trial, the officer that charged you will not be there.

4.  Get your evidence

• The key purpose of your first court appearance is to get the evidence that the prosecutor will be using to convict you. it is possible that the evidence will not be ready on this date. If this is the case, you will get a future date to repeat this process.
• Your evidence will be included in a package called disclosure.
• On your court date, ask the prosecutor for your disclosure and make arrangements on how you can get it.

5.  You will get a new court date

• At the end of your court appearance, the Justice of the Peace will give you a new court date which you will have to attend.
• You get a new court date to give the Prosecutor time to send you the evidence or for you to review the evidence and to decide next steps (hiring legal help, etc).
• Make sure you write that new court date down in your calendar as the court will not send you reminders.

6.  You cannot record your court appearance

• The rules regarding recording court appearances are very strict and clear.
• You cannot record audio, nor can you record video.
• And, you cannot take any screenshots.
• If you do, you’ll be subject to very serious penalties.