How to Legally Change Bail
Conditions
This article
examines how to change or
modify your bail conditions for
criminal charges in Toronto,
Ontario. Those looking to change or
modify a condition of their bail
should
consult a criminal
lawyer.
For information on the bail hearing
process, read my article on
The Bail Hearing
Process.
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 in Canada.
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 of the peace 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 agreement of the Crown
Attorney. Otherwise, an accused
person must bring a formal
application to review the bail conditions before a Judge in the
Superior Court of Justice.
General strategy for changing bail
conditions
The easiest way to get a bail
condition changed is to convince a
Crown Attorney to agree to the
change. This is usually the
least expensive and quickest option
available to someone looking to
modify their bail.
However, Crown
Attorneys rarely modify or eliminate
conditions imposed by a Judge or
Justice without good reason for
doing so. If a curfew condition was
imposed by a Judge, the Crown is
unlikely to remove that condition
without a compelling reason provided
by the accused.
For example, a Crown
may agree to allow an exception to a
curfew or house arrest condition for
a specific purpose such as attending
work or school. They are unlikely to
simply eliminate the condition all
together.
Bring Proof
When requesting a
change of bail from the Crown
Attorney, having supporting
documentation such as a travel
itinerary for an upcoming vacation,
proof of employment or proof of
school registration are often
essential tools to assist the Crown
with making their decision.
If the Crown Attorney
does not agree to change the
conditions of bail, the only other
remedy is to bring a bail
review application before a Superior
Court Judge.
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 found 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
were
withdrawn.
What is required to bring a Bail
Review in Superior Court?
Once an error of law or material
change of circumstances exists, bringing an application to have a
bail condition varied in Superior
Court 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 a
complete transcript of the original
bail hearing so that the judge
reviewing the bail conditions can see why a certain
condition was imposed in the first
place.
Typically this bail 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 bail review 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
for the application 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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