Bail Hearings In Ontario: How Many Are There? How Long Do They Take?

Thanks for joining me today. I want to talk about bail hearings in the province of Ontario. How many bail hearings do you get and how long do they take? Well, I’ll give you the simple answers to those. Well, first of all, you get one bail hearing. That’s it, one shot to get out of bail, so you’re either going to be detained or released by the Justice of the Peace. Now, in terms of how long they take, it really depends on the complexity of the case. I mean, bail hearings can take anywhere from an hour to two days or longer, depending on the on the complexity, but you really get one shot and that that sets the tone for the case, because if you get held in custody, well, you could be in custody a year or two waiting for your trial. So that’s why it’s so important to prepare that. 

At the bail hearing itself, the crown is going to be arguing for your detention based on the fact that your flight risk, you’re not going to show up for court, you’re going to commit further offences, your defence lawyer is going to present a plan. Look, no, we’ve got a plan for this person. We’ve got a home. They’re going to be supervised. We have what’s called a surety to supervise them and make an argument so that the Justice of the Peace decides to release you. And the good thing, though, is you get what’s called a bail review. If you lose your bail hearing, you can always review it in Superior Court. That’s called a bail review. It’s essentially an appeal based on errors of fact or law, but it’s hard to get released. It means hard to win that, you have to show errors of fact or law, and you can bring an unlimited number of bail reviews. But the bottom line is, if you don’t set the tone early and win that bail hearing, then you may be in custody right until the end of your case. So that’s why it’s so important to present a great plan at the bail hearing, have your lawyer prepare properly, etc.

Now what happens is you have to be brought in front of the Justice of the Peace within 24 hours for your bail hearing. But usually, your lawyer, to get that plan in place, it takes time, so you can put it over for days or week, however long it takes. There’s no use running a bail hearing unless you are property prepared with a surety in place in a plan so that you can property then defend yourself out of custody, hopefully. So, there you have it. It’s, it’s a one-shot deal with appeal process as well if you happen to lose your bail hearing. Thank you for watching our video. We are absolutely committed to bringing the best possible criminal and DUI educational videos if you found this video helpful, please like it and subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you’ve been charged with the criminal offense in Ontario and require our services, please click on the link in the description below.