Criminal Court Procedure

A criminal record is a record of a person’s criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country. In most cases it lists all non-expunged criminal offenses and can also include traffic offenses.

The Superior Court of Justice is the largest superior trial court in Canada. The Court has jurisdiction over criminal, civil, and family cases. It’s located at 245 Windsor Ave Windsor, ON N9A 1J2.

The Ontario Court of Justice is the largest court in the country. This court oversees matters relating to family law and criminal law. It’s located at 200 Chatham E Windsor, ON N9A 6V9.

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Your first appearance is not your trial and is not an opportunity to tell the judge your side of the story. The main purpose of your first appearance in court will be to obtain the details of the allegations against you.

Any evidence the prosecutor intends to use against you at your trial must be disclosed to you in advance. This procedure is called obtaining “disclosure”. Your disclosure package can include, police or other witness statements, surveillance videos, photographs or any other type of evidence that relates to your case. Usually disclosure will not be provided on your first appearance in court. If disclosure is not available, you (or your lawyer on your behalf) will have to return to court on another occasion to obtain it from the prosecutor in court. The nature and complexity of the allegations will usually dictate how quickly disclosure is provided. The more serious or complex a case is, the longer it usually takes to obtain full disclosure of the case.