TOPIC #4 -
How Can I Change My Bail Conditions?
Once bail is granted
in court, the conditions set out in
the recognizance of bail (bail
document) are difficult to change
without a great deal of time and
effort exercised on the part of the
lawyer.
In order to understand why this is
so, one must understand how the bail
system works.
For almost all offences (except
murder, treason and a few other of
Canada’s most serious crimes), bail
is granted in the provincial court
by either a Judge or Justice of the
Peace.
Once bail is granted (or denied), no
other judge or justice at the
provincial court level can review
that decision or the conditions of
bail imposed by the original judge
or justice. The only
instance where a provincial court
judge or justice can modify an
existing bail condition is
with the consent of the Crown
Attorney. Otherwise, an accused
person must bring a formal
application before a Judge in the
Superior Court of Justice to review
the bail conditions .
Can anyone
request a change of bail conditions
in Superior Court?
It is not
enough to simply want a bail
condition changed before you can
bring an application in Superior
Court. An accused person must also
show that the judge or justice who
imposed the original bail conditions
made either an error of law by imposing the
conditions they did or that there
has been a material change in the accused
person’s circumstances to
warrant the change of bail
conditions.
An example of an error of law may be
where the judge at the original bail
hearing imposed a condition limiting
the accused person’s ability travel
by requiring them to deposit their
passport with the police due to
fears the accused would not show up
for their trial where the evidence
heard at the bail hearing would not
support such an inference to be
drawn.
An example of a material change of
circumstances may be where an
accused person seeks to relax
strict bail conditions such as a
curfew condition after certain
serious charges against him,
previously justifying the curfew are
withdrawn.
Once an error of law or material
change of circumstances exists, bringing an application to have a
bail condition varied in Superior
Court also requires certain
paperwork to be filed with the court
before the application will be
heard. One of the items that must be
filed with the application is an
entire transcript of the original
bail hearing so that the reviewing
justice can see why a certain
condition was imposed in the first
place. Typically this transcript
takes one to two weeks from the date
it is ordered before it is ready and
costs $3.20 per page. A lengthy bail
hearing may cost several hundred
dollars to be transcribed. Also
required as part of the application
are affidavits (sworn statements)
from both the accused person and
anyone else who has agreed to
supervise the accused person on
bail (sureties).
How
quickly can a bail review be heard
in court?
Once the paperwork is
assembled, the court requires at
least two business days notice
before the application can be argued
before a judge.
After a date is affixed, the lawyer,
along with the accused person and
any other persons associated with
the bail supervision plan (sureties) will be
required to appear before the
Judge in the Superior
Court to establish why the original
bail should be modified. This is
often an all day process.
As you can see, a great deal of
time, effort and money may be
expended in an attempt to vary a
bail condition that the Crown
Attorney will not otherwise agree to
change. Sometimes, the
costs associated with attempting to
change a bail condition may cost as
much, if not more, than the costs of
defending the original criminal
charge.
Contact me at
416.297.7200
to arrange for a free consultation
to determine whether or not you, or
someone you know, may be
eligible for a bail review.
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